Neighbours of pine forest wind project offered $9,500 a year to compensate for views

The near neighbours of one several giant wind projects proposed for state-owned forestry areas are being offered annual payments of $9,500 or more a year to compensate for the views of the planned wind turbines.

The proposed 500 megawatt (MW) Sunny Corner wind project, proposed by Mainstream Renewables and Someva Renewables between Lithgow and Bathurst, will reserve a total kitty of around $100 million to near neighbours who own a home with 2.5 kms of a turbine. This does not include community benefit schemes.

It is the latest in a series of innovative plans designed to overcome local opposition to proposed renewable projects, and to ensure that landowners who host turbines are not the only ones who benefit financially.

“We’ve designed an industry leading program to provide substantial and tailored financial benefits to residents, depending on how close they are to turbines and their visual amenity,” said Someva Renewables managing director Jamie Chivers in a statement. 

“As an example, a landowner living two kilometres from a turbine with a moderate view of the wind farm could stand to receive annual cash payments of $9,500, if the wind farm is constructed.”

The base payment is scaled with dwellings less than 1.5km from a turbine set to receive $6,000 plus GST plus CPI annually, falling to $3,500 for houses between 2-2.5km.

That’s topped up with a visual payment, which pays out at $250+GST per visible cell — a specified area that contains one or more turbines. The developers estimate that a household around 2km from the nearest turbine could see a $9,500 payment every year from the combined outlay.

The offer is slightly different to that made for another forestry-based project, The Pines by Stromlo Energy and TagEnergy, in January. Those developers are offering the 200 properties within 3.5km of the project a scaled fee of between $1,000 and $5,000 a year per turbine, depending on its proximity.

The developers are also taking note of irritants that have lost social licence at other projects, assuring its future neighbours that the deal is voluntary and doesn’t require any non-disclosure agreements or other confidentiality obligations.

“No turbines will be within 1 kilometre of a main dwelling in the Final layout,” the first point on the ‘neighbour’ page of the Sunny Corner website reads.

“There are no restrictions on you developing your property (e.g. building a shed or other buildings). No caveat lodged with your property. A Neighbour Deed does not give the wind farm any rights to access your property without your permission.”

Someva Renewables head of engagement Felicity Stenning says misinformation is already doing the rounds for this project, so they’re trying to be as transparent as possible, and as early as possible – something confidentiality clauses don’t help with.

“We recognised that including a confidentiality clause impacts a landowner’s ability to discuss elements of the project and neighbour offer with their family, friends or neighbours. We felt for this project it was not appropriate to include NDAs or confidentiality clauses,” Stenning told Renew Economy.

Near neighbour payments are becoming more common in Australia as renewable energy developers engage with social licence issues within communities for their proposals. 

The social licence issues facing the Sunny Corner wind project also stem from the fact that there are a lot of projects proposed for the area.

Also proposed for the area are the 212 MW Mount Lambie wind farm and the 200 MW Ben Pullen wind farm. The 60 MW Glanmire and 90 MW Brewongle solar farms are also under development nearby.

And there are three standalone batteries totalling nearby, including one near EnergyAustralia’s Mt Piper coal fired power station, likely to be the last coal generator standing in what remains the country’s biggest coal state. The proposed Lake Lyell pumped hydro project is 18 kms away.

Moving early to win over neighbours

The Sunny Corner proposal proposes to use giant 8MW turbines, and will include a big battery scaled at up to 2,000 megawatt-hours (MWh).

The project is still in the earliest stages of the state planning approval process, but the proponents have moved early and quickly on community and neighbour benefits. 

Stenning says releasing the Near Neighbour Program now gives them the chance to talk to those neighbours to potentially influence the final design of the proposed project as they draw up the environmental impact statement.

At the end of July, the developers showed the results of community engagement they’d already done – two surveys, five community information events, and speaking to 700 people. 

The 140 survey respondents said investment in local infrastructure upgrades (48 per cent), grants to spur innovation (39 per cent) and local sponsorships (30 per cent) would be valuable in their community. 

Near neighbours were keen on annual cash payments, grants to install rooftop solar and home batteries, and electricity bill rebates.

A community benefits scheme is still being planned, but the developers have committed to investing in fire management – a big fear for residents near a wind farm hosted inside a forest – and road upgrades. 

They are promising to bring about 475 construction jobs and 35 long term operational jobs to the area.