Why did you choose this location?
The site has been selected for its windy ridges and cleared grazing land. Other selection influences include proximity to the national grid and supportive landowners.
What input has the community had?
To date, at this stage of the development process, we are discussing and inviting feedback from participating landowners on specific wind farm related matters. From a community and stakeholder perspective a number of newsletters have been publicly distributed providing a project update and inviting feedback to be submitted. As the project progresses further details will be made available and two way consultation channels will be expanded.
How long will the wind farm be operating for?
Typical wind turbines can operate for 20 – 30 years, at the end of which either the wind farm would be decommissioned or replaced with newer technology.
If the wind farm is decommissioned, the wind turbines and wind farm infrastructure would be removed from the site which would then be remediated. At this point, it would be difficult to know a wind farm had ever been there.
Will it be noisy?
No. Modern wind turbine designs have significantly reduced the noise from turbines; this is a key focus for wind turbine designers. Aside from the community impacts, noise also reflects lost energy and output – this ensure both a social and a commercial driver to minimise noise emissions. Noise levels at nearby residences are managed through the siting and selection of turbines, the approvals process for wind farms and operational management of the wind farm. Strict limits are applied through the Planning Consent process, and potential noise impacts are assessed by noise specialists as part of the Environmental Assessment.
How much electricity will the wind farm produce?
In a typical year, based on a typical capacity factor of 35% (and assuming 100 turbines at 2.5 Megawatts each), the wind farm could produce around 766,500 Megawatt-hours of clean, renewable energy, enough for the average consumption of around 90,000 homes.
What about health impacts?
We don’t believe there are any health impacts as a result of the construction or operation of wind farms. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has recently carried out a review of the available evidence in relation to health impacts of wind farms, including journal articles, surveys, literature reviews and government reports. This review included discussion of shadow flicker, blade glint, audible noise, infrasound, and EMF. As a result, the NHMRC has issued a public statement titled “Wind Turbines and Health (July 2010)”. While acknowledging that the evidence is limited, the statement concludes “there is currently no evidence linking these phenomena with adverse health effects”; and “there is no published scientific evidence to support adverse effects of wind turbines on health”.
In contrast, the Climate Commission in their recent report “The Critical Decade: Climate Change and Health – Key messages” has stated that “Climate change is harming our health in Australia, and poses a significant threat for the future.” The report points out:
“The risks to human health from climate change include: injuries and fatalities related to heatwaves and other severe weather events; spread of some infectious diseases from rising temperatures and changes in rainfall; water and food contamination from rising temperatures, changes in rainfall patterns and extreme events; exacerbated respiratory allergies from increased allergens (pollens and spores) in the air; exacerbated respiratory and heart diseases in response to increases in some air pollutants; mental health problems in those experiencing physical and economic impacts; and the health consequences of population dislocation as some regions become uninhabitable.”
The health impacts of doing nothing to address climate change are therefore very significant.