Australian farmers, communities forecast to benefit from clean energy shift

From pv magazine Australia

Analysis by Farmers for Climate Action and the Clean Energy Council (CEC) shows that large-scale solar and winds projects across the National Electricity Market (NEM) are expected to deliver between AUD 900 million and AUD 1.1 billion in landholder payments in the coming five years. Those direct payments are forecast to increase to between AUD 7.7 billion and AUD 9.7 billion by 2050.

The Billions in the Bush report also includes a forecast that contributions by renewables developers to regional communities and councils will be worth AUD 213 million by 2030, and AUD 1.9 billion by 2050.

CEC Chief Executive Officer Kane Thornton said the payments are part of a broader pattern of regional communities receiving the economic benefits of renewable energy projects.

“Modelling by the Regional Australia Institute shows that large-scale wind and solar projects, not including pumped hydro or standalone battery storage, could generate up to AUD 68 billion in economic activity across Australia in the next four years alone,” he said. “The clean energy transition is not only keeping the lights on as coal plants reach the end of their technical life; they’re creating jobs and alternative income streams right across communities.”

Every landholder who hosts a solar or wind project, or allows developers to explore opportunities for a project, is paid for the use of their land. If a project proceeds, host landholders are paid an annual fee over the project lifetime.

Currently, payments for solar farms are usually calculated on a per hectare basis with a rate of AUD 750 to AUD 1,250 per hectare. With an average installation density of two hectares per megawatt, this typically works out to annual payments ranging between AUD 1,500 to AUD 2,500 per megawatt.

Wind farms are usually calculated on a per megawatt basis although some use a per turbine payment. Annual payments to landholders host wind turbines typically range from AUD 5,500 to AUD 6,500 per megawatt.

Farmers for Climate Action Chief Executive Officer Natalie Collard said clean energy was making farmland more productive, providing a lifeline during drought and fickle global commodity prices.

“Farmers that choose to host renewables are farming sheep and cattle around wind turbines and under solar panels, creating a double income from the land,” she said. “Farmers are now typically offered more than AUD 40,000 rent per turbine per year and up to AUD 1,500 per hectare per year for solar panels and studies confirm sheep which graze under the panels are showing improved wool yields.”

Grazier Tony Inder, who has been running a flock of merino sheep under the solar panels on Lightsource bp’s 174 MW Wellington Solar Farm in central western New South Wales (NSW) for the past three years, said he was astonished by the increase in yield and wool quality.

“When this solar farm went in next door to us, I thought ‘that land’s wasted now’. Turns out … there’s actually more sheep grazing there (than before the solar farm was installed),” he said.

Western Victorian grain and wind farmer Susan Findlay Tickner said her family’s farm had been farming around transmission towers for 50 years and around wind turbines for a decade.

“We basically make two incomes from the land: one from cropping and one from wind turbines which take up 1% of the land on the farm,” she said. “The clean energy rent has made our farm more productive and more profitable.”

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