“We set the rules of engagement:” How one community took control when wind and solar came to town

“We decided to respect our community, I think, and that was the difference,” says Alison McLean, the head of economic development at the Hay Shire Council in south-west New South Wales.

Hay is in the middle of the newly created South-West renewable energy zone, which has attracted an astonishing 40 gigawatts of large scale wind and solar project proposals – and despite the anxiety and pushback experienced in other regions, the push for renewables in this district has been relatively well received.

But McLean, in an interview in the latest episode of Renew Economy’s Energy Insiders podcast, says this is because the local community decided to set the agenda, and not have it set for it by others.

“People in Hay and in small rural communities, in my experience, have really good bullshit meters, and if they can detect it in the first conversations, it’s really hard to turn that around,” she says.

Which is why Hay took a proactive approach when the renewable “gold rush” began to arrive, liasing with other local councils and making sure that the local community had the right information, and that the developers also understood how they should go about their business.

“We understood that our topography suits renewable energy development,” McLean says. (Hay is very, very flat).

“We understand that our sparse population suits renewable energy development. We understand that renewable energy is a very contentious topic for people in rural communities.

“And so we thought, why not show the respect that these people deserve, give them all of the information and let the community feel informed enough and empowered enough to make a decision about whether this was something our community would support or not support.

“And in doing that, we were able to really bring the community along in this discussion. We can either have this done to us, or it will be done with us in terms of the transition.

“And I think that’s probably the key as to why the community got behind this process. It was like a gold rush, I’ll be honest. There were developers popping up, left, right and centre.

“But because we done this process, because we had informed the community, because we had a document as boring as that sounds, a document that listed all of the fears that our community had identified, the impacts that we wanted to address, the opportunities that we saw and how we wanted everyone to behave in this conversation, it meant the developers came in with a real understanding of our community.

“So we didn’t get cookie cutter approaches to consultation. We were able to show the developers, we set the agenda, we set the rules of engagement.

“That was something the developers had not seen before.

“And I think because they weren’t spending a lot of time and energy trying to appease certain parts of the community, they were able to be really innovative in their their approaches to how they did the community consultation and the conversations that they had with neighbors and with land holders.

“And I’d have to say, on the whole, the developers were were very respectful of of the land holders and neighbors and and the community.”

The Hay region is likely to several big projects emerge that have been able to secure access rights in what has turned out to be an undercooked and undersized REZ.

Many other projects find their access to the grid blocked, at least for the moment, and most of the successful proponents have had the scale of their projects reduced, including the Pottinger, Dinawan and Bullawah projects.

But the four projects allocated access rights – which also include the 1.45 GW Yanco Delta wind project will bring in investment of more than $10 billion.

Various proposals are being considered to expand the capacity of the local REZ, and unlock other big projects, including making more use of local lines, and adding big batteries that can act as giant shock absorbers.

McLean says that while most approve, some are still opposing the developments.

“There are people in our community who do not want this to happen, and they have every right to hold that opinion and to express that opinion through the formal channels, which they have done,” she says.

“It’s interesting for us that the objections to the Pottinger wind farm, which is 247 turbines …. there were less objections to this than there were to an unmanned service station proposed in the main street.” (As Renew Economy wrote here, most of the objections came from more than 100 kms away, and many from interstate).

“So if that doesn’t prove something, I’m not sure what it does. But it is enormously comforting that there are planning processes, there are channels where people can actually engage in that in a democratic way and voice their opinions.

“And all we really wanted was to have discussion and not division and people, people should be able to express their views.”

You can listen to the full interview with Alison McLean here: Energy Insiders Podcast: Regional communities and the renewable gold rush 

See also: “Straight answers and high standards:” Bowen presses go on renewable developer rating scheme