Mugga Lane Solar Park. More of these will be needed to move forward to a clean energy future. Photo: Mugga Lane Solar Park.
A campaign by about 20 Yass residents has stopped a mega solar farm development outside the township in its tracks.
It never even got to the environmental impact stage before the proponent, French company ENGIE, pulled the plug, cutting its losses.
ENGIE tried to reconfigure it, but 220,000 panels across more than 300 hectares are hard to hide. Somebody was always going to see them. And reducing the number just meant the project wasn’t going to stack up.
The solar farm, or solar factory as the politicians who climbed on board the campaign called it, would have generated enough electricity for 52,000 homes.
It was ideally situated around the Transgrid substation and three landowners would have done very well hosting the facility.
It was just the sort of facility the nation needs to move from fossil fuel-based electricity to a clean energy future free of greenhouse gas emissions.
Yet, even when the residents believe the climate science and support renewable energy, their rural views came first.
How many times do you hear people say I’m not anti-renewables, and I’m not a climate denier, but …?
It’s the sort of thing that exasperates solar pioneer Professor Andrew Blakers, who believes the means are there to solve the climate crisis.
He didn’t mince words – he called the campaigners selfish and precious.
“We’re about 15 per cent of the way from no renewables to a 100 per cent fossil fuel-free future,” he says.
“Come back in 20 years and it’ll be seven times more solar and wind.”
Despite setbacks like this, he remains convinced the transition is going to happen, with economic benefits flowing to regional areas that welcome it.
The residents weren’t just worried about their views and lifestyle. There were concerns about property values, fire risks and, pitching to the rest of Yass and the council, obstructions to the town’s growth.
Too big and in the wrong place. Essentially, in their backyard.
But these projects can’t always be sited in splendid isolation, out of sight and out of mind, away from populated areas, but where there are transmission lines and substations to connect to.
NIMBYism isn’t confined to renewable energy projects but do those who talk about wind turbines and solar panels as blights on the landscape really believe they can be compared equally with the coal mines, gas fields and offshore oil and gas wells that contribute to global heating, drain water tables, pock mark the land and pose massive pollution risks at sea?
This is not to say that renewable energy projects should be waved through planning approvals or that big multi-nationals like ENGIE should have free rein without having to earn a social licence to operate in communities.
Or that people should not have the right to compensation on just terms.
But as understandable as it is for the residents to be upset at a development on their doorstep, it is nothing new. No one can expect nearby land to be vacant forever or that landholders will be permanently constrained, particularly when farming and renewable projects can coexist, bringing much-needed income to an often precarious existence.
Should the interests of a couple of dozen people prevail over so many others who will benefit from such projects, including their children?
The energy transition is not some bit of ecological whimsy; it’s a deadly serious business.
If it lags or is held back, the lights may well go out, as old generators fail and aren’t replaced. It’s not just home energy at risk but industry and business too.
With its abundant sunshine, land area and long coastlines, Australia is blessed with truly natural resources to create a clean energy future, not to mention the roofs of our cities.
With the re-election of the Albanese Government, which says it is committed to the energy transition, there is an opportunity to really build momentum.
But there needs to be more certainty for both communities and renewable energy proponents for that occur, and, yes, less NIMBYism.
