Renewables rush: “It's the industrialisation of our landscape”, say farmers

Mapping of wind, solar and battery developments shows rural Victoria is rapidly being industrialised. See the locations.

Farmers fear large-scale solar and wind developments are turning the countryside into an industrial landscape.

Farmers have warned Victoria’s rural landscape is rapidly being industrialised, as the Allan Labor government rushes the roll out of 213 wind, solar and battery projects.

A total of 76 wind, solar and battery installations have already been built, with another 120 gaining government planning approval and 17 under consideration.

Moyne Shire Council recently lodged a submission with the Allan Government stating it had “371 operational wind turbines, 12 further turbines to be constructed in 2025, and a further 297 approved or seeking planning approval”.

“If all these are constructed the shire will host approximately 700 turbines generating around three gigawatts of electricity (and) will cover approximately 12 per cent of Moyne Shire’s rural land area, equivalent to the size of over 100 Melbourne CBDs,” it stated.

However the Clean Energy Council has repeatedly stated farming is compatible with renewable projects, an argument supported by Wimmera-Mallee farmer Craig Henderson, who has signed agreements to host wind farm developments on his properties.

Mr Henderson said while wind farm development may cover large areas, the turbine footprint was less than 2 per cent of the total area, meaning 98 per cent of the land could still be grazed or cropped.

“It makes very little difference to the usable land,” Mr Henderson said.

But neighbour and Farms for Food spokesman Ross Johns said: “I don’t think the community is aware of the scale or impact of these developments – it’s the industrialisation of our landscape.

“It’s a very poorly planned process and a free-for-all for corporates and multinational companies.”

Last week the Institute of Public Affairs published research that found 35 of Australia’s 50 largest wind farms, some 70 per cent, are entirely or partially foreign owned.

“In 2024, through the LRET (Large-Scale Renewable Energy Target) subsidy scheme, a total of $1.04bn was transferred from electricity consumers to the largest 50 wind farms operating in Australia,” the institute found.

“Of this, $535.5m was paid to wind farms which are entirely foreign owned, $153m was paid to wind farms part Australian and foreign owned, and $350m was paid to wholly Australian-owned wind farms.

As for how much tax they pay, the Australian Taxation Office’s most recent corporate tax report for 2021-22 shows:

THAI-OWNED corporate Ratch Australia paid no tax on $162m of income;

MULTINATIONAL Vestas Australian Wind Technology paid $6.2m tax on income of $858m;

AMPCI Macarthur Wind Holdco Ltd paid no tax on its income of $205m; and

WOOLNORTH Wind Farm Holding Ltd paid $9m tax on $118m of income.

Tax information on the vast majority of foreign-owned wind and solar developers is unavailable to the public.