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Adam Blakester (second on left) is the Proiect Director for New England Wind. This is a committee of dedicated volunteers working towards establishing our region s very own windfarm ...
ho is on the committee for New England Wind?
The committee has members Their role
is
B

a much bigger vision, however, a community-

the wider community.

owned wind farm will take us some way towards achieving t.

What is the timeline to develop the wind farm?

Our current priority
is

of a community wrnd farm. There are severaL strearns to this, including: community forums (like those we are currently doing with the near
neighbourhood around Woodville East); our

to

lead the prolect and take

Where does the idea of a community-owned wind farm come from?

We have been deeply inspired by Hepburn

to thoroughly

assess

the wjnd farm site. We are arranging on-site

responsibility for all strategic decisrons. This is an

act on-oriented group, with the m x of skrlLs and

contacts.
The other members and specialities are Chris Blanksby (wind engrneer), Andy Cavanagh-

Downs (community-owned renewable energy), Liz Gardiner (renewable enerqy), Patsy Asch (communications), Pau Cruickshank (government policy and f unding), Karen Zirkler (landholder relations), Will Winter (business development)

Wind, which is in Daylesford, Victoria. They are Australia's first community-owned wind farm, and so far the only one. They were recently awarded the 2012 World Wind Energy Award at the World Wind Energy
Conference, Germany. New England Wind aims

wind monitoring and determining the cost of connecting to the electricity grid. This phase of work will take around one year. A f urther two years of work will then be
required for planning approvals, permits and various studies Lo be completed (environmental, social, financtal,
legal)

web presence (which includes resources that range f rom general information right through to techn cal research); and in-person discussions (which we have a great many of). Who will fund this project, and are you looking for donations and/or investors? The whole idea of a community-owned wind farm is that eventually we will raise f unds for
shares from local residents and businesses across

to be Austral a's second

community-owned wind

CC

tho fi lncls we

the short-term'

All going well, we will be

rn a position

to raise funds

the New England. However, there is quite a lot of work we need to qet done before we can legally

Adam Blakester (second on left) is the Project Director for New England Wind. This is a committee of dedicated volunteers working towards establishing our region's very own windfarm...
ho is on the committee for New England Wind?
The committee has
B

a much bigger vision; however, a community-

the wider community.

owned wind farm will take us some way towards achieving it.

What is the timeline to develop the wind farm?

Our current priority
is

of a community wind farm. There are several streams to this, including: community forums (like those we are currently doing with the near
neighbourhood around Woodville East); our

members" Their role is to lead the proiect and take

Where does the idea of a community-owned wind farm come from?

We have been deeply inspired by Hepburn Wind, which is in Daylesford, Victoria. They are Australia's first community-owned wind farm, and so far the only one. They were recently awarded the 2012 World Wind Energy Award at the World Wind EnergY Conference, Germany. New England Wind aims

to thoroughly assess

the wind farm site. We are arranging on-site

responsibility for all strategic decisions. This is an action-oriented group, with the mix of skills and contacts. The other members and specialities are Chris 'Blanksby (wind engineer), Andy CavanaghDowns (community-owned renewable energy), Liz Gardiner (renewable energy), Patsy Asch (communications), Paul Cruickshank (government policy and funding), Karen Zirkler (landholder relations), Will Winter (business development) and Barbara Finch (community development).

wind monitoring and determining the cost of connecting to the electricity grid. This phase of work will take around one year. A f urther two years of work will then be
required for planning approvals, permits and various studies to be completed (environmental, social, financial,
legal).

web presence (which includes resources that range f rom general information right through to technical research); and in-person discussions (which we have a great many of). Who will fund this proiect, and are you looking for donations and/or investors? The whole idea of a community-owned wind farm is that eventually we will raise funds for
shares'from local residents and businesses across the New England. However, there is quite a lot of

to be Australia's second
community-owned wind farm. While this is a new idea in Australia, it is a very common model in Western
Europe and North America.

bbtn"t"ttdlwe.

l\rrtheshortterm'

All going well, we will be

in a position to raise funds

work we need to get done before we can legally

issue a share offer.

to build the wind farm in 3

- 4 years from today.
So you can see,

Why do you believe we need a wind farm?

Two years ago we conducted a series of forums, surveys and meetings, asking the community about how they would like their electricity to be handled. This involved more than 1,300 people and overwhelmingly, they wanted three things.
First, they wanted clean and renewable

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ln the short-term, the funds we need will be raised from a combination of donations, fundraising, sponsorship, grants and early
investors.

"

this is a very long-term believe it

ln Germany, more than

commitment. However. we is worth it. A wind

We would certainly welcome any and all contact from people who are interested in this!

90,000 people are emploYed by community-owned renewable

energy projects. There are lots of benefits from communityownership. Electricity is a basic need, so owning your own power is very useful. We also then
keep the jobs and business suppliers local, as well

farm will produce electricity for 25 years or more (especially if the wind turbines are re-furbished or renewed

Where to from here?

Our immediate focus is raising funds for the

energy and to move beyond coal. Concerns about unconventional coal seam gas were just beginning to emerge at that time, and there was deep concern for the need to protect farmland,

for another 25 years after that). Do you have sufficient community support for this project?
We have had overwhelmingly positive support

wind monitoring to thoroughly assess the site. A fundraising campaign will be launched soon to
assist

with this.

At the same time, we will continue with our communication and meetings with the community, landholders, neighbours and
authorities.
NE

water systems and nature. Second, the community wanted to have electricity created close to where they use it. There are two excellent sources of currently usable renewable energy in the New England wind and solar.

the financial returns. Hepburn Wind have a community fund for other sustainability proiects,
as

and we will set up a community benefits fund for the same purpose.

for the project so far; however, we have a long way to go and would welcome more! We are very thankful to our past financial
sponsors and funders (NSW Government, New

Wind contact details?

What is the proposed location for the wind farm?

We have analysed more than 120 sites, which were voluntarily offered to us to consider. The current preferred. location is an area known as Woodville East, which is about 20 km to the north-east of Armidale. We are working closely with five landholders where the actual wind farm

England Mutual, Sustainable Living Armidale and Starfish Enterprises) and our current in-kind partners (particularly Embark, Environmental Defenders' Office, Australian Community Energy and Wilson & Co Lawyers).

Current information about the project is on our website www. newenglandwind.coop or

Wind was preferred, because the technology

is more mature and significantly more affordable

than large-scale solar.

Third, the community wanted to own their power system. In fact, the strongest message

we can be emailed at info@newenglandwind. coop. To stay up to date, people can sign up for our newsletter (via the website) or 'like' us on Facebook at http:/iwww.facebook.com/ NewEnglandWind. All project reports and
technical research documents are available at:
http ://www. scri bd. com/NewEn gla ndWi nd

How do you plan to educate our community on the benefits of this project?
A comprehensive community education
process goes hand-in-hand

which came through was that we should be aiming to own our entire energy system. That's

would go, plus their immediate neighbours and

with development

newenglandfocus 7