Renewables rush: Wind and solar developers scramble to lock farmers into deals

Wind and solar developers are scrambling to lock farmers into confidential deals, with one producer saying he has been contacted by 13 different companies.

The wind rush is on, but only a fraction of the deals on offer to farmers are likely to be delivered. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Farmers are being swept up in a renewables rush, as developers scramble to lock landholders into confidential deals that pay them little more than 2 per cent of each project’s earnings.

“It’s out of control,” Quambatook grain grower Brett Hosking said. “Thirteen different companies have contacted me and you don’t know who’s building what.”

Wind developers are urging farmers to “sign up now or miss out” on option and licence agreements that block the landholder from dealing with any other renewable energy company for up to four years, but without any commitment to build the project.

The Victorian Opposition has stepped into the fray, with leader John Pesutto promising to “bring back balance to the rollout of renewable energy”, if elected in 2026.

Those promises include banning turbines within 2kms of homes, reinstating third-party appeal rights against renewable developments and mandating decommissioning bonds once turbines reach the end of life.

In the meantime, companies such as billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Squadron Energy, Acciona, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and German-backed ViRYA, are doing all they can to sign on rural landholders, urging them to “secure your farm future with an alternative revenue stream – the Win-Wind Solution”.

Farmers are being offered up to $10,000 a megawatt on wind turbine leases that earn developers more than $420,000/MW in large-scale generation certificate subsidies and wholesale electricity revenue each year.

One lease agreement seen by The Weekly Times states the farmer will be paid just $25,000 for the first three 3.5MW to 7.5MW turbines, and then $22,000 for each additional tower, leaving the company free to vary its turbine capacity and income.

An Acciona licence agreement seen by The Weekly Times offers the landholder $5000 a year in return for not dealing with any other renewable energy company for up to four years, but without any commitment to build the wind farm.

Other companies were offering $10,000 for “option to lease” agreements, with actual leases running over 25 to 32 years.

Many wind and solar projects are unlikely to go ahead, even with the development of new transmission lines, such as the Western Renewables Link and Victoria-NSW Interconnector.

Electrical engineer and former chair of transmission at the University of Queensland, Professor Simon Bartlett said “40 per cent of Victoria’s existing wind and solar power was already spilling” and that most of capacity WRL and VNI West delivered would be quickly exhausted.

The Victorian Government’s renewables projects listing shows that spill is occurring with just 37 operational wind and 30 solar developments, with a total capacity of 5488MW, of which about 2000MW hits the grid each year.

Another 3391MW of wind developments are either under construction, approved or seeking approval, plus another 7630MW of solar projects of which 70 are approved.

Most developers are counting on being able to tap into the additional capacity the 500kV Western Renewables Link and Victoria-NSW Interconnector to feed their power back to Melbourne or into NSW and South Australia.

But the Australian Energy Market Operator’s analysis shows the $3.5 billion electricity consumers will have to pour into both projects will add just 1580 megawatts to the capacity of northwest Victoria’s River Murray REZ, 1460MW to the Western Victorian REZ and 900MW to the southwest NSW REZ.

Victoria’s transmission network planner VicGrid has already warned it will have to place caps on solar and wind developments in each renewable energy zone, due to limited transmission capacity.

VicGrid documents show it is still weighing up its options on whether access is allocated “on a first-ready first-served basis, through a tender process, or through a hybrid approach, depending on the circumstances that apply to the relevant REZ”.

Yet in the midst of this uncertainty wind developers are trying to lock farmers into confidential deals to lock in access, or options to lease in the case of wind farms, and buy in the case of solar and battery developments.

Leaghur farmer Tyler Nelson, south of Kerang, said he and other farmers had been approached with promises that VNI West would open the door and to get in quick or miss out.

“There’s a free-for-all, with renewable developers trying to get off the ground first.”

“They’re saying it will allow for all these renewable energy projects,” Mr Nelson said. “But it can’t be the case (as) it’d be over-committed.”

Farmers have repeatedly raised concerns about who pays for decommissioning turbines at the end of their useful life, particularly given many developments change hands over time.

The Clean Energy Council has a best practice charter that calls on project owners/operators to put money aside for decommissioning.

But a comparison of leases by one group of farmers shows one company simply stated it would make good the premises to “as near as practicable” to condition at date of commencement, while another said it would start putting money from year 19 to 28 of the lease.