Renewable wind and solar farms at Hay Plain in New South Wales will boost economy and create sustainable farms

Stretching as far as the eye can see, the flat landscape of Hay Plain in south-western New South Wales is known as sheep and cattle country.

But the community is now committed to embracing the new economy – wind and solar power on a large scale – if it will deliver lasting benefits.

“It will be the biggest physical and economic change the area has experienced since it was first settled,” said Ali McLean, economic development manager at Hay Shire Council.

“We will be moving from a completely agrarian economy to one that will host large-scale industrial renewable energy.”

Council has been actively working with the community to develop a documented framework for negotiating with developers, an approach that has not been used before in local government in New South Wales.

“We didn’t want our community to be divided on whether or not the energy transition should happen because we knew that would happen,” Ms McLean said.

Caucasian woman, shoulder-length blond hair, wearing navy blue jacket, glasses, smiling at camera, with clock tower and buildings in background. — Ali McLean says the community has set priorities to raise funds from renewable energy development. (ABC News: Emily Doak)

“We went out to our community very early on to make sure this was happening to us and not to us.”

She added that these actions have resulted in cheaper electricity contracts for the entire city and long-term projects relating to education, housing and health care.

Plains “ideal” for large-scale development

Large-scale development of wind and solar energy in the region has been made possible by the construction of high-voltage transmission lines between South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, which will increase grid capacity.

Nearly 20 developments are planned in the Southwest Renewable Energy Zone, eight of which are in Hay County.

Men working on construction of large transmission line tower, area overgrown with bushes, blue sky. — The construction of the Energy Connect transmission line paves the way for the development of renewable energy. (Brought to you by: Elecnor Australia)

However, not all projects will be implemented, as the first tender for access rights in the Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) received bids for a total capacity of over 15 gigawatts (GW) of the available 3.98 GW.

One of the biggest proposals has been put forward by French multinational corporation Engie, which envisages the construction of a hybrid wind, solar and battery storage project between Hay and Deniliquin.

The company’s business development manager, Aref Taleb, said the region is ideal for large-scale renewable energy projects.

“With the available resources of land, wind and sun, up to 200 turbine and large solar farm projects can be planned that will work in conjunction with existing agricultural operations,” he said.

“We don’t see this scale anywhere in Australia, or even the world.”

A man with dark, curly hair, a mustache and blue eyes, smiling, is wearing a sweater buttoned at the neck and the word Engie is written on the left shoulder. — Engie’s Aref Taleb says there has been little opposition to the energy development proposal. (ABC News: Emily Doak)

There has been vocal opposition to renewable energy projects in other parts of the state, but Mr Taleb said there had been no local opposition in Hay.

“Which is extremely rare for energy projects in this country,” he said.

“I think this community is incredibly open to new, innovative ideas on how to help sustain the region in the long term.”

If the project goes ahead, some of Engie’s wind turbines will be built on Richard Cannon’s land.

“It’s a steady, yearly income,” he said of the annual payments for running the project.

“It probably reduces the pressure on the land, which is mainly there for agricultural production, so it can probably be done in a slightly more sustainable way.”

A farmer dressed in jeans, blue shorts and a worn-out hat stands on the wide plains — Richard Cannon believes Hay Plain is ideally suited to large-scale renewable energy projects. (ABC News: Greg Bigelow)

Mr Cannon also actively participated in public consultations with Hay County Council.

“I made sure I wasn’t seen as the owner of wind farms that were making money and the community wasn’t sharing those benefits,” he said.

Wanting more than an “economical sugar rush”

Regional communities where energy projects are built often receive funding from developers, but it may be distributed on an ad hoc basis in the form of grants to local organizations or community projects.

Ms McLean said the council wanted to ensure that building the energy project would not just be a “warm hit to the economy” but that in the longer term the council would focus on education, housing and health care.

“We asked our community to really pay attention to more than just sponsoring football shorts and toilets,” she said.

“Let’s really think about how we can take this significant amount of money and make this change that we’ve always wanted to make.”

Cheaper electricity topped the list.

“We have managed to negotiate schemes that range from a $1000 (annual) rebate for 30 years for every person living within a 20 kilometre radius of the scheme, which will cover the whole borough, to voucher schemes for every person within the Hay local government area,” Ms McLean said.

Other proposals include subsidies for solar power and battery storage for households.

Helen Haines speaks in the House of Representatives in a white blazer. Silver hair tied back, glasses, blue top. — Helen Haines believes Hay Shire Council’s approach could provide a model for other communities. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)

At the national level, Helen Haines, the federal member of parliament for Indi in Victoria, has been lobbying for a change to the legislation that would provide more support to regional communities that benefit from renewable energy sources.

“We need to move to a net-zero economy, but I want to do it in a way that actually benefits regional communities,” she said.

“I think Hay is a brilliant case study of what we can and should do across regional Australia.”

Ms Haines wants renewable energy zones to have neutral advisers operating the centres.

“I want this to be a place where regional communities can get credible advice and have real negotiations with large energy companies in a way that gives them a sense of ownership and control,” she said.