Sam Coupland, the mayor of Armidale in northern NSW, says the New England Renewable Energy Zone will only proceed if the state government commits to pouring in about $500 million to upgrade his region’s water security.
“Water, that’s the gateway,” Coupland told Renew Economy during a recent visit to his office. “Right now the state needs us more than we need them, and that’s our only lever.”
In June, the Armidale Regional Council passed a resolution – “no water, no REZ.”
As owner of all the water infrastructure in the local government area, the council vowed not to “make any water available for the transmission or any construction until we have a guaranteed commitment from the state that they will fund –significantly – the water security,” he said.
The robust stance was informed by Coupland’s view since becoming mayor in early 2022 that the government wasn’t adequately accounting for the needs of local communities.
“It almost seems like we’re considered a bunch of yokels, and their hope is that one day we’ll wake up and go, “Geez, how did all that happen?’”
Memories of the severe 2019 “tinderbox drought” across New England remain vivid. An ongoing dryspell, with Armidale tracking at about half its normal rainfall so far this year, is also on many farmers’ minds – not least because of the potentially record-sized El Nino weather pattern taking hold in the Pacific.
Coupland estimates the region will need “over half a billion dollars” to secure its water supplies. “Let’s call that a quarter of a wind farm” in investment totals.
The city is already on stage-2 water restrictions. Visitors to the council offices are reminded to prepare to save water usage.
The council followed up on its water demands on Wednesday lodging a scoping report with the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure to detail its water ambitions.
The first stage – if supported – would see the Oaky River Dam restored, with a pipeline built to supply Armidale and a neighbouring town, Uralla.
That move would reopen a reservoir out of service since 2013 and give Armidale a second, independent water source.
Stage 2 would see the spillway of the existing Malpas Dam raised by 6.5 metres to increase long-term storage. “Indicative timeframes” indicated the project may be needed by 2041 to cope with increased water demand.
Coupland carries clout in the region. A management consultant to lawyers spanning Australia, New Zealand and beyond, he also chairs the Coalition of Renewable Energy Mayors (CoREM) that groups 14 council regions in the state’s east.
“We are not requesting a seat at the table,” Coupland is quoted on the site as saying. “We are the table.”
His varied background includes formerly owning a 62,000-hectare cattle station on Cape York, now sold. He is also a son-in-law of independent federal MP, Bob Katter.
By Coupland’s reckoning his community broadly backs the energy transition. About 80% are agnostic or supportive, 5% are “giddily supportive” and 15% are between “slightly aggrieved neighbours through to the aggressive anti-ideologicals.”
He said that 15% is picking off some of the agnostics and some “extreme” media coverage opposed to renewables.
Coupland said the government has so far done little in public to counter negative commentary, and nor have developers.
“They’re very clever people that run incredibly successful businesses, and they’re not successful by accident,” he said.
“I’m talking about why doesn’t Squadron come out and say ‘this is why we’re doing what we’re doing?’” Coupland added. “Why doesn’t Origin come out and say ‘the reason we’re investing in wind farms isn’t because we’re stupid? The maths looks like this.’”
Coupland helped set a community sharing framework that collects $850 per megawatt a year from solar farms, and $1050 per megawatt from wind farms. Batteries will pay at a rate in line with solar farms, he said.
Armidale council will divert some of the funds to a newly created New England Future Fund.
“So just for the Armidale region, we have about 82 million dollars in commitments to that,” he said. “That’s over the lifetime. It all won’t come in at once.”
Of the fund’s money, the council will determine where 75% is spent and an independent panel will decide where the rest goes.
A spokesperson for Energy minister Penny Sharpe said the NSW government had “done a lot of work to identify issues to be managed through the future build-out of the New England REZ, including water security issues that date back some time, and we are working closely with councils to identify potential solutions.”
“Renewable energy investment is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve the infrastructure and economies of regional NSW,” the spokesperson said.
EnergyCo, the state-owned developer of NSW’s REZs said it was “working closely with councils and government agencies to ensure communities have access to the water they need at all times to prosper and grow.”
“Under the NSW Water Management Act 2000, town water supplies and critical human water needs are prioritised above industrial and construction water use,” an EnergyCo spokesperson said. “This means water required for Renewable Energy Zone projects cannot come at the expense of household water security.”
However, the opposition’s member for Northern Tablelands, Brendan Moylan, said water would be an issue, no matter the size of the New England REZ. The state Opposition says it will scrap the zone if it wins office next March.
“Whether there is an 8-gigawatt REZ, a 3 GW REZ or no REZ at all, Armidale and surrounding [local government areas] don’t have enough water supply or storage to meet current demands,” Moylan said.
“The Liberals and Nationals want our regional towns and cities to thrive, and the only way that can be done is with safe and sufficient water supply and infrastructure,” he said.
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