Company’s turbines ‘will suit environment’

EMMA SPILLETT
espillett@kiamaindependent.com.au

ABC Wind managing director Simon Mansfield believes privately owned wind turbines could be erected on farms in Berry, Gerringong and Kiama as soon as next year.

The company has launched the Gerringong Power Co-operative initiative, which aims to establish three wind farm sites with one to five turbines across the northern Shoalhaven during the first two years of development.

Mr Mansfield said the company was targeting small to medium-scale wind farms with installations from 30 kilowatts to 10 megawatts to try to reduce the visual impact of the turbines.

“We are developing a turbine structure that is smaller than the typical situation,” he said.

“We are looking at 20m to 30m towers, rather than 100m towers, to drastically reduce the visual impact. You go to areas such as Gunning, where they have 10 turbines, and Lake George where they have 50 turbines, and see the visual footprint these

turbines have … they are large systems and the visual space they take up is very big.

“They have no relationship to any natural features, so they are alien artifacts to the human perception and that’s why people react the way they do.”

Reducing the number of turbines would also allay concerns.

“If you go beyond a certain numerical point, then it starts to affect visual perception,” he said.

“If you put 20 turbines on Saddleback Mountain, it would probably look like hell, whereas if you put two or three, people might love it.

“It’s all about it looking visually interesting and being complementary rather than dominant.”

Mr Mansfield said one of the biggest issues with wind farming onthe South Coast was population density.

“There are lots of wind opportunities here, but what people don’t understand is it’s hard to find places to put them,” he said.

“You can’t put them too close to properties so you have to redefine the problem and look at the scales of farms and density absorption.”

Mr Mansfield said bigger populations also created a larger chance for resistance from residents.

“The larger the population, the bigger percentage of people who are unhappy,” he said.

“They have a greater ability to make noise and really take the project on board.

“Big companies want people to go along with their plans so they take the large-scale farms to places where there will be less chance of resistance.”

Mr Mansfield said he had approached a number of farmers in the area who had expressed interest in wind farming.

“Siting is one of the big problems on the South Coast,” he said.

“There are great opportunities for wind, but there are ridgelines where the wind causes holes and there are zones where the wind is more intense, so we have to look at that.

“We want (the turbines) to be absorbed in a non-confronting way so we are looking at certain places that are not going to have an interminable impact.”

Mr Mansfield said he was prepared for some adversity from residents, but he believed he could answer their questions straight up.

“We want to be up-front and answer any concerns honestly,” he said.

“We should be trying to create an energy-rich future, not an energy constrained future.”

Farmers in the area are invited to log on to www.abcwind.com/farmer to register their interest.