Residents say Central-West Orana renewable energy zone secrecy is dividing communities

The Central-West Orana renewable energy zone (REZ) being developed by the New South Wales government is causing division in rural communities, residents say. 

Rebecca Glencross lives near the site of the proposed Spicers Creek Wind Farm, about 80 kilometres from Dubbo, and said “a lot of people are very hesitant to have conversations” about the project.

The social worker and part-time farmer said some of her neighbours had entered into agreements with the company set to build the farm, Squadron Energy. 

“They have signed these agreements and so to talk against them … means they might have any financial offers withdrawn, or make contracts null and void,” Ms Glencross said.

She and her family knocked back the agreement they were offered after receiving legal advice and realising they could not write letters of opposition if they signed.

Squadron Energy chief executive Jason Willoughby said confidentiality was an important safeguard for all involved.

“Because these voluntary agreements include personal and commercially sensitive information for both parties, confidentiality clauses are included to protect that information,” he said.

Ms Glencross said the confidentiality clauses were emphasising what felt like a split in the community.

“When there’s large amounts of money on offer, it would seem very attractive,” she said.

“I can completely emphasise … people would be very tempted by these amounts, so you can see why people are probably very conflicted about the project.”

Starting figure ‘laughable’

Ms Glencross said the family was offered a “laughable” $5,000 neighbours agreement offer at first to compensate for the visual impact of the wind turbines.

“$5,000 doesn’t even cover your groceries,” she said.

“$5,000 is nothing compared to the impact it’s going to have.”

The offer then rose to $10,000, but the Glencrosses said that was still not enough.

“Things like insurance, our insurance doubled this year because … it’s the nature of agriculture in NSW at the moment, that we have the complexities of having renewable projects right next to agriculture, so all the insurers are looking at that complex aspect,” Ms Glencross said.

Just down the road, next door to the Stubbo Solar Farm near Gulgong, landowner Andrew Campbell has seen firsthand the effects of the divide.

The project is proposing to install two transmission lines through his property, 240 metres from his house.

“We’ve lived here for 12 years and have a young family, and no one wants to be looking at power lines 80 metres high,” he said.

“We thought, ‘Do we sell and move somewhere else?’, but who else is going to want to buy it and live here as well?”

Mr Campbell said EnergyCo was paying landowners $200,000 per kilometre of transmission hosted, in annual instalments over 20 years.

He said it was not fair that his property would have a high physical and visible impact but would receive the same compensation as properties with comparatively lesser impact.

“You could have a kilometre of powerline over the back somewhere that you never even see, or someone who doesn’t even live on their land or doesn’t use it,” he said.

“They get about the same per year as we will when it’s right in our face and it’s completely ruining where we live.”

Some landholders happy with deal

Farmer Will Martell is also an affected landholder of the Spicers Creek Wind Farm.

While he said nothing was set in stone, there was potential to have wind turbines and electricity infrastructure on his property between Gollan and Elong Elong.

Mr Martell said he had signed a host and neighbouring agreement that had specified confidentiality, which he believed was fair enough.

“Because I guess some of it is commercial information,” he said.

“We wouldn’t have signed it if we weren’t happy with it.”

Mr Martell, like many other residents, had attended several community meetings about the REZ in town.

He said he had never seen any animosity, but there were people who did not like the idea of the project.

“Nobody has actually come up to me and told me that they’re really upset with it, but I think there are probably people out there who don’t like the idea of wind towers in their neighbourhood,” Mr Martell said.

‘Where are people going to live?’

Councils hosting these projects are being told they will need to cater for an expected influx of workers.

They have reported already juggling residents’ needs and concerns with the ongoing demand from developers.

One affected mayor told the ABC that councils would have to cater for whole separate villages, and both residents and councils were concerned there were not enough resources to go around.

“Where are all these workers going to get a drink of water? Where’s the waste going to go? Where are people going to live?” Warrumbungle Shire Council Mayor Ambrose Doolan said.

“One project, just in construction, wants more water per annum than the town of Coolah uses, so where’s that going to come from?”

Understanding the need for “going with the flow”, Councillor Doolan said it was the local government’s job to do the best to minimise the impacts.

“All of this is given permission from a higher level than council, so we’re not in a position to say, ‘Make this go away’,” he said.

“So our job as councils is to do our very best to minimise the adverse impacts to our communities and do our very best to maximise the good that can come from this.”

The Central-West Orana REZ was the first of its kind for New South Wales.

Run by EnergyCo, the REZ contains five wind farm projects and six solar farms in development by separate companies, with a number already constructed.

Several battery storage systems and transmission lines will connect them all back to the grid.