Draft NSW Wind Farm planning labelled unfair

The proposed new NSW Wind Farm Planning

Guidelines create unfair restrictions on wind farm development and will particularly fail rural and regional communities, says Adam Blakester, Project Director for New England Wind. 'l.{ew England Wind has lodged its submission to the NSW Government and is particularly concerned about how out of step these guidelines are with the views of the majonty of NSW citizens," saidAdam
Blakester. The proposed NSW Wind Farm Planning Guide-

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lines have been prepared to provide a regulatory framework to guide investrnent in wind farms across NSW, while minimising and avoiding any potential
impacts on local communities. New England Wind compliments the NSW Government for presenting a clear and thorough set of planning guidelines for wind farms. However, there are significant concerns about how unfair the guidelines are towards wind farms compared with other energy developments and how restrictive they are for community-owned renewable energy projects. "Community renewable energy projects will be wrongly restricted by these guidelines," said Adam
Blakester.

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"This kind of project, like New England Wind, brings together willing landholders, local inyestors and organisations to create a small-scale wind farm in a way that is supported and positive. "Yet the conditions outlined in these guidelines

will

add costs and uncertainty without any real value

a

for the communify. "The other problem is that the guidelines set

completely different set of rules for wind when compared with other energy developments, "This creates an unfair playing field. "Why is it that coal and coal seam gas operators can set up operations almost next door to homes while wind farms need to be half way to the horizon and quieter than a household fridge?" New England Wind is calling on the NSW Govemment to exempt community-scale wind farms from the requirements for a Community Consultative Committee and to develop specific NSW Governmentpolicy to enable community-scale and community-owned renewable energy infraskucture. It is also requesting consistent application of noise limits with other energy developments and replacement of the arbitrary 2km setback rule, with a merits-based process that ensures the siting ofturbines takes into account real and legitimate effects only. New England Wind is working to become the first community-owned wind farm in NSW producing half of the residential electricity needs of the New England Tablelands. The project is led by a consortium of local community organisations and specialists in community renewable energy under
the auspice of Starfish Enterprises.