By Aston Brown
Wind farms on the Southern Downs could put “downward pressure” on residential rates and bring economic development to the region but must be “better thought out” to ensure they keep the community onside, Mayor Melissa Hamilton has said.
Expensive and increasing residential rates has been one of the biggest issues voiced by voters. A quarter-acre block in Warwick will pay more than $3,500 in rates annually.
“Our residents are doing a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of rates," Cr Hamilton told The Town and Country Journal. “If we have some projects that can take that pressure off, to me that would be an absolute community benefit and help build that social licence.”
About 25 landowners west of Warwick have been approached by multiple wind developers interested in building a wind farm in the area. That proposition has drawn strong opposition from people living on smaller lifestyle blocks in the area, who held a meeting at Greymare Hall on Friday, May 17 in opposition to a prospective wind farm.
Energy developers are required to make an annual rate payment to council of roughly $10k per turbine for 25 years.
That’s in addition to annual compensation paid to landowners who host turbines on their property. The details of contracts between farmers and landowners are locked behind confidentiality agreements, but are said to include annual compensation of about $40k per turbine.
However, Cr Hamilton said the MacIntyre wind farm outside Karara, currently the largest under construction in the southern hemisphere, has made the community “very wary of [renewable] projects.”
During peak construction mid-last year, there were about 750 people working on construction. Many were living on a large on-site camp, but some subcontractors stayed in Warwick. While there is no “hard data” rental price increases and booked out short term accommodation coincided with peak construction, Cr Hamilton said.
That meant huge windfalls for hotels but tightened an already stressed housing market. “The rental market here got very difficult for local people … a lot of families who could afford rent before have found themselves homeless,” Cr Hamilton said.
Night attendance at the Warwick Rodeo and Jumpers and Jazz last year was also “very low” compared to previous years due to a lack of available overnight accommodation. Housing pressures have since begun to decline in line with reduced wind farm construction workforce, Cr Hamilton said, but “that’s something that we’d like to see managed better in future projects.”
Because almost all of MacIntyre’s 162 turbines lie in Goondiwindi region, the Southern Downs doesn’t benefit significantly from increased rates, but has seen indirect investment in the area. “Spending at shops, cafes, restaurants, fuel stations … a lot of the supplies for the actual construction have been sourced here,” Cr Hamilton said.
As of December 2023, the MacIntyre development has spent $678m on businesses and suppliers within Queensland, $155m of which has come from within 155 km of the project.
It will also employ 35-40 people once operational (up from its initial estimate of 12 jobs) and the project developer, Acciona, says it’s “first and foremost” committed to employing locals.
The wind farm also has an annual $100k community grants budget which will rise to $250k from next year. Cr Hamilton said these grants should be rolled out by local government in future. “We don’t want that to be at the whim of the proponent deciding to do a few community charity items that they choose … we would like to see payment to local government so that we can roll out programs that the community wants”.
North of the MacIntyre project, Acciona is in the early stages of developing the Herries Range wind farm, which will be of a similar scale.
“There are opportunities, but there are also challenges,” Cr Hamilton said. “It’s really important to take the community with you on these projects.”
