Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t CTM, Mr.; According to the ABC, the recent court ruling that upheld a complaint by residents that wind turbines are a noise nuisance has sent “ripples of uncertainty” throughout the entire Renewable Energy industry.
Alinta says court wind farm ruling will have ‘dramatic’ and chilling effect on renewable energy investment
By energy reporter Daniel Mercer
Posted 20h ago20 hours ago, updated 19h agoOne of Australia’s biggest renewable energy investors says a court’s decision to uphold complaints against a Victorian wind farm could have “dramatic” and chilling effects on the country’s transition away from fossil fuels.
Alinta boss Jeff Dimery, whose company is one of Australia’s biggest private energy providers, said the ruling by Victoria’s Supreme Court would be a “shock” to companies planning to invest billions of dollars in new wind farms.
Justice Melinda Richards ordered the project’s operators to switch off parts of the wind farm at night until the noise levels could be reduced to an acceptable level.
She also told the operators to pay aggrieved neighbours more than a quarter of a million dollars in costs and damages.
Mr Dimery said the decision would send “ripples” of doubt through the renewable energy industry across the country given the potential precedent it sets for other wind farms.
He said the longer-term implications were potentially significant, noting the ruling could scare away developers by making wind farms harder to build and less financially attractive.
“It’s a disaster,” Mr Dimery said.
“This is a pretty dramatic outcome, I have to say.
“This court decision certainly changes the risk appetite for investors.
“I think there’ll be some fairly serious ramifications off the back of this.”
…
Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-25/chill-winds-for-renewable-sector/100940308
WUWT wrote about the Bald Hills Wind Farm case in 2021, but at the time it looked like residents had lost. So I’m personally pleased to report that this story appears to have had a happy ending.
WUWT has frequently written about the environmental impact of wind turbines, including claims of ill health effects from wind turbine infrasound. There have even been claims wind turbine noise leads to whales beaching, because it messes up their navigation sense. But cases in which plaintiffs obtain legal relief because of wind turbine noise are rare. Let us hope this court case win which upholds the right of residents to not have their sleep disrupted by “green energy” mechanical monstrosities is the first of many.
All windmills are noisy, even the little ones we used to play with on the beach. Can you imagine trying to sleep near those things with the consistant hum…..
I can’t and I wouldn’t
the only cheap homes/farms in midnth sth aus are? yeah near windfarms oddly enough
The problem is you can’t do anything about it. Your neighbors won’t stand up to anybody (re: Australia’s WuFlu internment camps) so how in the world can you stop this insanity. Look at Canada. Those citizens won’t even help their trucker citizens; they just hide in the homes with obedience collar masks on. This entire hysteria and stupidity is falling in our laps and we don’t seem to be up to the task of maintaining any kind of human rights for ourselves. Sigh…
Imagine living near a wind farm during a hurricane or blizzard.
The turbine blades have to be turned edge on to the wind, so as to not overspeed the mechanism.
I live across the street from a city park that uses a small, single wind turbine to power it’s administration building, and even that thing gets noisy as heck on windy days. You can hear it from blocks away, and that’s just one small windmill. I can’t imagine what it would be like living near an industrial installation with dozens of giant turbines.
Hard to imagine specifically, but easy in general: Never again a moment of peace.
WUWT has frequently written about the environmental impact of wind turbines, including claims of ill health effects from wind turbine infrasound.
Yes. And they are all rubbish.
There is no reliable evidence there’s an issue (even in this court case)
Did you just prove that the wind turbines are good for my health?
Seems to me that his link proves they aren’t.
It’s not his link, it’s Eric’s.
They aren’t rubbish to the people who are affected by them. Do you live near a windfarm? Guess not so you have no clue.
Nah – Griff is a city boy. Never been outside the city limits. This makes him an expert on rural areas, and makes him perfect for passing laws and creating regulations for how such areas are protected. Kalifornia employs city folk for protecting the Spotted Owl. Every year they clear forest by allowing fires to ignite in high-fuel (brushy) areas. I don’t understand how destroying forests supports the Spotted Owl, but I probably just need to listen to some Sierra Club propaganda. Maybe it has something to do about the value of destroying eastern California and western Navada air quality. If it kills enough humans, maybe the Spotted Owl can regrow their population.
Big city folk are some of the dumbest people in this solar system.
It has been rather well established that the Spotted Owl is simply losing out to the competition from a better species of owl that did not formerly inhabit their domain, but is now taking over. It has nothing to do with forestry of forest fires.
Does that bring to mind
‘It doesn’t matter if the science of CO2 is valid or not. Only the economic and societal results of our policy are important.’
As usual Griff, you missed the main implications of this case.
The Alinta director, as an active player in the windfarms industry, expressed serious doubts that wind turbine designers, manufacturers and installers will be able to comply with the judgement requirements that these infernal machines will not disturb ordinary people living in their houses 1 kilometre from the nearest turbine.
So, imagine if you can that from now on, the perimeter wind turbines of a wind farm need 1 kilometre of distance between them and the nearest house.
That is,1 kilometre of space around all 4 sides of the wind farm site.
What impacts do you think this requirement will have on wind farm installations from now on.
Oh and by the way, judgement on this case was reached on the basis of audible noise, not “infrasound”.
(that’s just now a spare shot in the locker)
Leftists use the red herring fallacy a lot.
Good job, Mr., destroying griff’s deception.
Griffster: -100
US Military says otherwise:
https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/p014113.pdf
Infrasound can be debilitating over the long run, and is also used for some weapon systems. I should know, I worked on a few that utilized focused < 10 Hz high amplitude sonic energy. Low enough that you can’t “hear” it, but high enough to destabilize the fluids in your ear, causing a constant feeling of seasickness.
Thank your the link to this document. LFN harm is clearly identified.
“The possibility of rage-reactions, increased aggressiveness and irritability, all in added to noise intolerance, are hardly desirable conditions for military operators. Epileptic seizures and automatisms are also quite undesirable, especially within a military scenario. Long-term exposure to LFN can severely decrease the cost-return ratio for these operators, i.e., investment in training programs has little or no return, because operators’ operational lifetime is severely decreased.”
Is this why LFN from large scale wind turbines isn’t measured by the wind industry?Is this why policy makers cannot provide health studies related to siting of these turbines?
Dan unfortunately I live in a Renewable Energy Zone in Central West NSW Australia. One of the developments for our area is proposing 63 wind turbines each one 7MW and standing at 280m high. The area that they are planned for is 79 square kilometres. There will also be an 11 kilometre long transmission lines and two substations associated with this project and a 441MW BESS backup.
This is just one of many projects planned to straddle an 180 kilometre long transmission line, also planned, that starts near us.
We are fighting the onslaught of renewables an need as much information as we can gather. Do you know what might be considered a safe distance in regard to low frequency sound from a project such as this?
Well, it depends upon the sound level – how loud it is. Assuming 140 dB SPL < 10 Hz @ 100m from the turbines, I’d say 1.6 km.
Thanks for that Dan.
Not with infrasound or any audible low frequency sound
The last public meeting I went to was, that the nearest turbine had to be a minimum of 2kM from any existing residence.
Are you in Australia Peter? And do you have any kind of reference of that, that we could show as proof?
Yes Meg. I attended one of the public meetings in Blayney, for the Flyers Creek Wind Farm. Infigen, about 2012 I think. There was a question asked about the sitting of a turbine to existing houses. The verbal answer was 2kM clearance, however that was a Government criteria at the time. Prudent avoidance I believe. Since then I believe that they had come back 1.5kM and any closer had to be negotiated with the affected home owner.
Thanks for that Peter. I’ve been doing some research on infrasound and low frequency sound. Like any information, much of it reads like a marketing document for renewables. I’ve come across a peer reviewed paper that has 180 references and supports that there are are indeed health issues associated with wind turbines. The proposed wind project will be only 8 kilometres from the town and the turbines will be the largest onshore turbines in the world. It’s a bloody disgrace.
Some experts have suggested more than 20km. The destructive infrasound pulses have been measured as much as 20km from the wind turbine. What is not well understood
how low the level of frequent exposure must be to avoid the tissue changes caused by infrasound exposure (tissue changes consistently producible in the laboratory)
how far infrasound can travel in the atmosphere with little or no reduction of level. This is definitely not a simple inverse square law mechanism.
Thanks Andy, I think. Why don’t they get that for those of us directly affected by this infrastructure it’s really overwhelming on so many levels.
Andy can you please provide any documentation or links you my have that include these figures?
Seems, you are one of the victims of these infrasound impacts and the resulting brain damages. That’s contradicting the content of your comments.
You are the proof of these impacts, no question.
With all of your access to Wind Turbine Info/propaganda, please provide the name of five CEO’s or Senior executives of wind turbine providers or manufactures that live within 1,000 yards/meters of an operating wind turbine. Willing to bet none live within sight of one.
Ask any ham radio operator if they hear the wind blowing through their antenna tower. Why do you think they put the very tall towers further from their home even though there is a loss of signal from the long antenna cables?
that decision touched a nerve Griff?
Typical of the left: when every fact goes against you, instead of amending your thought process you get angry at the messenger.
…and claim that the truth you are seeing isn’t actually there. It’s amazing how little the left will open their eyes and ears and actually process the truth around them.
As this is funny, considering griff still tries to claim that CO2 is controlling the climate, despite the fact that there is no evidence of this.
Get an SPL-meter app and go take measurements, Griff. There are several good ones for both Android and iOS, costing at most $5.
You are LYING again, griff !
Griff, I have to ask, if noise is a non-issue, why not put wind turbines into the inner city areas?
Most wind turbine supporters are inner city types. This would dramatically reduce transmission loss. Big Cities in Australia are on the coast with wind. In places like the UK with high population densities and strong electoral support, I would expect this to be well received.
Not a bad idea. Put them on the tops of the tall city buidings. Lots of wind in most cities especially due to the funneling effect of the city grid layout.
If I recall thats been tried in some new skyscraper .. they had to shut them down due to noise and vibration in the building I believe.. was it in London?
I wonder how long the building’s steel frame and reinforced concrete slabs would withstand the vibrations?
Depends on the frequency and the structure. Tesla’s Oscillator.
Nikola Tesla’s Earthquake Machine (forbes.com)
The myth busters tested it and found that on a bridge the vibrations could be felt 100s of feet away.
The turbines that they are proposing near us are almost as tall as the third tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere. The proposed turbines are 280m tall. Centrepoint Tower in Sydney is around 300m tall. Given that they want to put in 63 of them, they would effectively be building a city in our valley.
I posted a response to you, not at all offensive, but it wasn’t allowed. Confused.
I’ve been confused more than once about why my posts disappeared. Perhaps cancel culture is a growth industry.
yeah and it might kill the sparrows starlings and indian mynahs rather visibly to prove the point. but yes Id LOVE to see a few installed in suburbia
How about trying it in Boston?
I am sure the people that reside in Long Island,NY would welcome their entire Island being covered in windmills to supply NYC with energy.
I read somewhere that to supply the NYC metro area with electricity one would have to cover the entire state of Connecticut with wind turbines and that of course is when the wind is blowing.
Of course it may be a little less now since the population of NYC has dropped 6 1/2% since COVID but on the other hand that may be more than offset by increased EV charging requirements.
By the same “precautionary principle” used by greenists, it MUST be assumed extremely harmful until proven otherwise. In any case harm from infrasound has been know for several decades.
In this case, the same rules that apply to all electrical plant and equipment is being applied. Years ago a company that both Jeff Dimery and I worked for constructed a gas turbine plant (8 units) in a rural area. The nearest farm house was 17km away. They complained about the noise.
It turned out that on a still night with no other noise, the sound of the power station operating carried enough to impact the family. This was verified by instrumentation but was a very small noise, like a beehive around 20m away.
Still, the court ruled that we had to increase the sound insulation so that the noise at the farmhouse did not rise above the ambient noise at the farmhouse.
This is the same rule being applied to a wind farm as should be the case.
That approach won’t work for infrasound, which is the component most destructive to physical health.
And once again griff approaches the keyboard. Stringy, greasy hair in his eyes. Mouth dribbling while his excitement builds. He has become adept at typing with one hand – the other elsewhere… He draws on his vast store of alarmist dross and begins another drive-by comment, trembling with anticipation of the tidal wave of verbal lashings he so eagerly seeks.
Then why did the court rule there was an issue?
Are you claiming this text from the report…
“A Victorian court has ordered a wind farm in the state’s south east to stop emitting noise at night in a momentous court decision.”
“The Victorian Supreme Court today found the noise from the Bald Hills Wind Farm at Tarwin Lower created a nuisance to its neighbours ordering damages and an injunction.”
… is not evidence of an issue?
It sounds like you didn’t actually read the article.
Mr. griff wanted us to think that he read the court case. He has earned his pennies this day.
let’s not forget the courts may not make sense, in the US, the court said CO2 causes a problem
there is no doubt that the repetitive hum of wind turbines is irritating at the least and quite likely physically harmful . the only question is how much distance is required to eliminate the harm
IF distance CAN eliminate it…
“Yes. And they are all rubbish.
There is no reliable evidence there’s an issue (even in this court case)”
This is very interesting, Griff. You seem quite happy to dismiss a whole host of peer-reviewed scientific papers on this topic. I can only assume that you think that they are all wrong, although the basis for your conclusion is not clear, other than an enthusiasm for wind turbines.
Now perhaps you have an appreciation of the reasons why some of us regard various peer-reviewed papers on climate science with suspicion and think them incorrect. What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander…
You mean you refuse to acknowledge the existence of all the published data that says the opposite of your claim. Properly applied this evidence is basic physical biology, nothing subjective need be assumed.
I tend to agree with you griff that wind turbine noise only affects those who aren’t earning a quid for having them on their land. However with this Court ruling the cost of that has just gone up big time-
Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Future Industries may set hydrogen industry precedent with Esperance wind turbine leases – ABC News
That’s the trouble with these precious Green petals griff. They’ve become used to getting their own way with every conceivable whinge and complaint so reap what you sow boyoh. The laugh is of course people pay big bucks to be by the noisy seashore but not next to the highway so you work it out. LOL.
griff, bad move! Commenting on this subject, which is full of clear evidence, you shot yourself in the foot! You would do better staying quiet and silent.
Yes, remain silent and folks may think you dumb, but speak and confirm the opinion.
As I write this, you have 133 down (negative) votes for your comment Griff. I am not certain, but I believe that may be a new record for a single comment from you.
If it is a new record Griff, congratulations! Like fine wine, you keep getting better with age./sarc
Up to 144 down votes now (Monday morning). Keep up the great work Griffypoo!
Wow Griff you have surpassed yourself. That’s highest thumbs down count I can remember seeing here in quite some time.
Most days I look at Griff’s replies and laugh.
Other days I look at Griff’s replies and wonder if he is a Russian Bot carefully programmed to generate WUWT traffic with deliberate troll posts… and laugh.
Clearly is paid for his drive bys. I always figured it was the Chinese.
I thought I would mention DDT, for no particular reason.
” …… chilling effects …… “.
So the warmunisters agree that it is going to get colder.
Mr. MacRae, tell them it has already started, they have obviously not read your papers.
Windmills – expensive, unreliable, noise pollution. What’s not to like?
Don’t forget, bird and bat-choppers, eyesores, land hogging and destroying, etc. But, as long as they are “saving the planet”, it’s all good.
Insect mashers, too. And not to mention the additional environmental destruction that will be caused by all the completely unnecessary mining for “rare Earth metals” (which part of THAT should suggest to anyone exercising common sense tells you it shouldn’t be used for something in large quantities on an industrial scale!) for magnets for these worse-than-useless things.
I keep coming back to that meme –
“What did we use for light before candles, grandma?” “Electricity.”
And burying the old blades which can’t be recycled.
But hold on. I have heard rumors that a Mexican company that owns a cement plant in South Dakota is going to be burning blades in the manufacture of Portland cement. Not sure how that works.
That’ll be the first time any part of a wind turbine actually provides reliable energy – by burning the blades!
Somewhat toxic.
Motion flicker.
It is very psychologically unsettling.
Calm peaceful vista becomes endless flickering and movement.
If in the actual shadow while it spins, it can become downright unnerving.
The Green Blight: intermittent/unreliable energy, toxic from recovery to reclamation, net positive contribution to durable waste, and first-order forcings of diverse ecological defects. If not for the failed hypothesis of [catastrophic] [anthropogenic] climate cooling… warming… change, there would not be a market for this profligate waste.
Insane amount of rebar in the bases, concrete, copper, lots of steel, hard to imagine one of those paying for itself in a year.
They pay for themselves in a year (maybe) because of government financial incentives and guarantees for sale regardless of whether it can be used or not.
Constructive interference may play a role here, multiple sound sources of almost identical frequency, in some directions signals may add in-phase.
https://docs.wind-watch.org/Bell-tonal-infrasound.pdf
Thank you for this link, ‘climanrecon’.
Nailed it.
Coming primarily from the blades as they pass the tower.
Most middling to large windmills spin at around 18 rpm – meaning that a blade passes the tower roughly every second creating a compression/shockwave as it does
Put a lot of those things in close proximity (they’ll all be synchronised to the grid and hence with each other) so depending on wind speed, wind direction and their spacing, all those 1Hz bump bump bumps shockwaves may reinforce or cancel each other.
But then, 1 Hz is pretty close to the rate human hearts beat at, especially while ‘resting’ asleep.
Combine the large pressure sensor that human lungs are, that they are bang up against the heart, those 1Hz bump bump bumps are going to act as a ‘forcing’ on the heart.
What if it wants to beat at something other than 54 beats per minute?
>>The affected person is going to feel ‘uncomfortable’ – its going to affect almost every part of their body ## especially if they’re in bed on a mattress with an unknown resonance frequency.
(Mattresses are ‘spring loaded things’ they are bound to have a resonance frequency)
Hence the complaints about not being able to sleep
But then the Super Scientists arrive in the morning when the wind has changed, with their ever so clever sound monitoring tackle and then, utterly totally ignore anything and everything below 20Hz.
Because ‘noise’ is what you hear and no-one can hear anything below 20Hz.
So simple when you know how.
OK then, let’s hear them explain why every guitar based rock music band has a bass guitar. Why?. No-one can hear it so what’s it there for?
Let’s also hear (haha) the sound scientists grumble just like the sound engineers did when Steely Dan insisted on bringing sub-woofers to their studio recording sessions.
Everybody loved the sound of Steely Dan – it was ‘different’ but no-one could explain why.
Simple.
Because you felt the sound of Steely Dan, not just heard them
So it is with windmills.
## There are, in this modern world, medical contraptions that do pretty well that.
They comprise multiple ‘cuffs’ that are fitted around that person’s legs usually.
The cuffs are what we might recognise from blood-pressure monitors but are individually connected to a compressed air supply.
A heart monitor keeps close regard of what the patient’s heart is doing and in synchronism with the heart, inflates/deflates the cuffs so as to help blood flow to/from the heart,
When the computer hears the heart ‘push’, it triggers the cuffs to help the blood reach the extremities and then, when the heart relaxes, the cuffs ‘push’ blood back again
Apparently very effective for folks with Hypertension, other cardio vascular disease and obviously, heart-attack victims to ‘take some weight’ off the heart and help it recover
Peta what if someone had a pacemaker, which regulates the heartbeat. Do you think infrasound could be problematic for these people?
‘Ripples of uncertainty’ caused by the ruling?–well, I think maybe it’s supposed to, just like Ralph Nader’s exposure of the early Corvair suspension faults sent ripples of uncertainty through General Motors.
That’s what these cases are supposed to do, just like what lawsuits over spontaneous combustion of Tesla (and other) batteries are supposed to do. Do these wind farm operators expect some kind of special protection absolving them from accepting responsibility for damages from faulty design? (a rhetorical question, okay?)
They might call them vaccines for the global warming pandemic.
which as we’re now finding out, were no more effective than tries & tested preventative medications that have been around & readily available for decades.
Even the developers, Pfizer & Moderna claimed in their FDA submissions that all their “vaccines” would do is mitigate the worst effects of COVID19, not stop transmission or contraction.
So a ‘treatment”, not an “immunization”.
Wot a gyp!
“It’s a disaster,” Mr Dimery said.
Yup.
Ruinable Energy has been a disaster from the start.
Even Dimy and Dimery are noticing.
Proper engineers have been pointing out the problems for a quarter of a century.
Even if whirligigs could be provided free of charge and installed by the elves and the unicorns, they would still be a disaster at more than an absolute virtue signalling maximum of 10% of total demand.
Strange that GangGreen always promote the need for the “Precautionary Principle” for any innovation. Except for providing energy using ridiculous weather dependent gimmicks.
And yes I have personal experience of working in an office affected by wind turbine noise and shadowing.
Absolutely dreadful.
A question for WUWT denizens: Can a smartphone document the noise and shadowing? If it can, the lawsuits would be endless.
While I like the legal win regarding wind generators noise pollution, I’m wondering why it is OK to chop up our flying friends, raptors included, but don’t disturb someone’s nap?
Easier to collect on damages. Not right, but it’s the way of things.
Things like wind turbines are in favour until they aren’t; the case of shredded raptors is still waiting for its day in court. If I was a wind farm operator I’d be putting away a contingency fund for the day when tides turn as I’m betting they will, and a retroactive fine is imposed for all the birds they’ve chopped up since installation.
Even all of Hitler’s people–and Marie Antoinette–believed at the time that they were invincible and untouchable until they weren’t. If 1606 dead ducks resulted in fines to Syncrude of $3 million, wait till the bill comes due for all the whacked raptors in Altamonte Pass, and the smokers flying through the beams at Ivanpah. All those free rides will expire someday.
‘Those who fail to learn from history…’
Because the birds can’t sue and Audubon Society and WWF won’t.
A small victory. But still a victory.
A farmer I know with a windmill nearby told me that from noon till sundown there is a shadow across his living room window every 5 seconds. Annoying at first, eventually quite disturbing.
Tell him to record it and approach the government and/or a lawyer.
I wrote this above before I saw your comment, Ed:
“Motion flicker.
It is very psychologically unsettling.
Calm peaceful vista becomes endless flickering and movement.
If in the actual shadow while it spins, it can become downright unnerving.”
-Nick
Oh dear, how sad, never mind.
One day common sense will prevail and instead of destroying the environment building hundreds of tonnes of steel/concrete structures and fleecing the taxpayer by providing expensive unreliable energy we can resort back to affordable, reliable energy. We have plenty of options: gas, nuclear, fracking, SMRs or yes even coal which afaik do not kill birds and need massive environmental footprints. Turbine madness has to stop!
This case proves that ignoring this ethical crisis cannot continue. Can you imagine the stress caused when people being harmed have to go through this sort of legal process in order to be protected from the harm? How many people are being harmed and cannot afford the legal costs or handle the stress of the process?
Good.
Breaking Big Wind is one step closer to reality.
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
Pun intended, Bruce?
Wind turbines are great. As long as you don’t have to listen to them, look at them, or help pay for them, that is. Then, they suck.
Or rely on them for power…
“According to the ABC…”
No, the ABC is just reporting. Their headline correctly says
“Alinta says court wind farm ruling…”
You’re hearing from the guy who just lost the case. No-one else is quoted. Alinta presumably sailed too close to the wind (so to speak) and will have to pay the penalty. Proper siting is important.
Or is it: “According to the ABC, Alinta says …”.
Mike two of my comments were marked “Awaiting approval” and have been deleted. Can you tell me why please?
And two have disappeared!
Yes, apparently that now translates to a 1km buffer of land around all these wind farms.
I think I would support Aboriginal claims for these tracts of land to be categorized as ‘Native Title’, so the windfarm developers have to negotiate and compensate the groups for the use of “their country”.
There are as many “proper sites” for wind farms as there are for open air nuclear waste dumps.
Having a coal mine nearby can have its problems too.
Or a volcano or a geological fault line.
Yet millions of folk all around the world continue to take their chances living in the shadows of these known hazards.
Oh well, we all have to have something filled in for the “cause of death” section on our death certificates, hey Nick?
What does that have to do with anything?
Having a school nearby can have its problems too
Having a lake nearby can have its problems too
Having a water tower nearby can have its problems too
We have a coal mine around twenty kilometres from us Nick. It not only provides reliable energy, steel and a long list of other useful products, for millions of people, it provides jobs Nick. Full time, well paid jobs, trades among them, management roles. Our beautiful historic towns here were born out of mining, and will die if the mines shut down. Our history goes back to the gold rush era of the mid to late 1700’s. Henry Lawson lived in our town for a time. We have five museums here, one of them takes up two blocks. Our town has been declared of historic significance, there are no traffic lights or roundabouts, no McDonald’s or any other such fast food restaurants. Our area was named the top regional tourist destination last year.
There is nothing dystopic or remote about the countryside here Nick. It’s rural land, part of the only 6% of arable land that makes up Australia. It has rolling hills with stands of native gums and eucalyptus trees, wattle of many different varieties paint the landscape with yellow hues at different times of the year and native wildlife abounds here. Kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, emus, echidnas, turtles, reptiles, small marsupials and countless varieties of birds and species of bats too. This is where we ‘chose’ to live.
We know the issues around mining Nick. We chose to live here anyway. Drive a few kilometres away from the mines and you wouldn’t know they were there. The mines are planned right through to rehabilitation and land restoration.
This is not the case with renewables Nick.
We did not choose to have renewable energy proliferate around our rural landscape Nick. It will be impossible to drive a few kilometres to escape renewables, they are being built within a few kilometres of our towns! Just one combined wind and solar project near us will take up 89 square kilometres of land! We are angry about this Nick, its just not right. The commercial solar will bulldoze 13 sq kilometres of land down to bare soil. Many of the animals I described here will be displaced and fenced off or the smaller ones destroyed.
How many millions of solar panels for a 500MW solar works Nick? How much mining contributes to that? Coal is an ingredient in the silicon ingots for crystalline silicon solar panels, they also need it to fire up the furnaces to make the silicon ingots. Coal is also an ingredient for the steel pylons. And the 500MW BESS backup, just how much in the way of raw materials will be needed for that. These batteries are obscenely expensive Nick, and they only last ten years!
What about the fire risk? We have a population of 2,500 Nick. Did you know that no fire plan has been discussed around battery fires? Not for EV’s, home batteries or BESS backup. They are looking into it and hope to come up with something in mid 2023. Look up the grass fire in Leadville NSW in 2017, it was a big one Nick. We were told in 2018 that it was imminent that our greater region would be declared fire prone. Now why do you think that hasn’t happened Nick? It would make it very awkward to justify renewables and all that go with it wouldn’t it.
The 63 wind turbines planned at 7MW each and standing at 280m high is tantamount to putting a city in our valley. There’s Wedge Tailed Eagles up there Nick. Did you know they’re protected? They’ve identified two endangered species too. A Barking Owl and a Long Eared Pied Bat. A Bell Frog can stop a coal mine but the renewables Developers just have to purchase certificates and their problem goes away.
There is so much more I could say to you about the negative aspects of renewables Nick. There are so many lies told about this industry, and because the MSM won’t tell the truth the general population don’t have a clue. They don’t even know what questions to ask.
The renewables scam won’t last forever Nick and it’s already collapsing in the Northern Hemisphere. The humanitarian issues, environmental degradation and economic damage is a disgrace Nick. What they are doing is criminal, for a part time, unreliable and short term source of energy.
The “problems” you mention in regard to coal mines, in this context is ludicrous. Not even close.
Just to edit a period of time mentioned in my post. This history of our town dates to the 1800’s. Still significant given that Australia was colonised in the late 1700’s, and our town is three hundred kilometres from Sydney.
That isn’t a court ruling it’s a few locals trying to get an inquiry up by commissioning a report. Yes same thing but has the issue been taken to court and a ruling made?
Mr. Stokes: I’m having some difficulty following you here. There’s a distinction between “ABC says” and “ABC reports”, how does it matter? I’m glad you noticed the ABC only reported one side (the Operator?! Go figure). Does that make you wonder?
When you start out that bad, the non-sequiter, jumping to coal mine, almost makes sense.
Your ABC has a devil of a problem separating “news reporting” and “opinion” – they just get all mixed up and find it hard to tell the real story. Anyway I guess you are mean to clarify it as an opinion piece by mansplaining that they were actually trying a beat-up on an energy business. Thank you for that … maybe you should apply for a job with them … not all their folks have your hubris talent.
Wrong.
The article quotes several others, for example:
“Bald Hills has not established that the sound received at either Mr Uren’s house or Mr Zakula’s house complied with the noise conditions in the permit at any time,” Justice Richards said.
“The implications are corporate Australia will have to be very careful about complaints,” Ms Tannock said.
Infrastructure Capital Group, which owns Bald Hills Wind Farm, said in a statement it was “currently absorbing the judgement and its implications” and would not comment on the ruling’s detail.
It would seem that you didn’t actually read the article.
“Mr. Dimery said the decision would send “ripples” of doubt through the renewable energy industry across the country given the potential precedent it sets for other wind farms.”
Awwwwwww – ain’t that just too bad. 😀
Alinta apparently has no concern at all of the health and lives of the people the windfarms are affecting. Just concerned that there is risk for building bird chopping noise machines that also produce energy off and on.
They will just have to buy all the land 1 km around each bird muncher. All those hectares of wasted farmland with the extra fertilizer from mangled birds.
You can bet this land will become weed infested, adding to the woes of nearby farmers who have to deal with the weed seeds being blown over. Perhaps pave over this area with white coloured concrete and solar collectors.
You really do have to wonder how much bovine excrement some people can swallow without asking questions. have they become dung beetles?
Mini survey:- Which is worse?
a) Tyrants that use the pithiest and feeblest of excuses to justify their tyranny
b) Those that use equally pithy and feeble excuses to allow tyrants to steal their freedom
c) Both are as bad as each other
d) Tyranny and propaganda ended forever with the downfall of the Nazis.
I know a farmer personally who put wind farms on their land. Pacific Hydro promised to return the construction damage back to original condition. They failed utterly. They left farm gates open. They put in a substation that was not agreed to. They built a much larger road than they promised. Their workers objected to people legally on the land shooting pests. They got bolshy with anybody on the land who argued with them to close gates. Not a good company.
Sort of got what he asked for. He made a deal with the Crony Capitalists who are screwing up the grid with the unreliables.
I guess he will get his land rent, but what happens when the bird choppers wear out and are left to rot? He doesn’t really think the developer will be around then does he? The entity that buys the “farm” for the subsidies will go bankrupt as soon as they can no longer make money on the place.
quotes from Alinta boss [“I think the magnitude of what needs to be achieved has absolutely been underestimated,” he said.”The narrative around what can be done and how it can be done, in my opinion, is being oversimplified to the community.”There’s a misconception that bringing more and more renewable energy into the market will reduce power prices over time.”]
NOTE There’s a misconception that bringing more and more renewable energy into the market will reduce power prices over time
Keeping coal fired electricity as long as possible looks better and better
This is not a problem at all! These leftarded morons only have to embrace renewable energy. Oil, gas, coal, hydro and nuclear.
Seems like there should be plenty of empty space to place wind farms in Australia, outside of areas where people live.
Most land areas in and around Australia are not suitable for wind turbine operations.
Yes Jim, there are lots of empty spaces across Oz.
But they don’t support life as we know it.
🙂
The founder and former leader of Australian Greens, Bob Brown, not long ago complained about a State Government of Tasmania development application approval for a wind turbine business installation on hills not far from his property in Tasmania.
He is opposed to the wind turbines impacting adversely on his landscape views.
NIMBY, even for greens.
there is a lawsuit being filed against the impending wind farm planned for building off the coast of massachusetts within an area designated as a right whale protection zone . right whales are a particular favorite of environmentalists that will certainly be disturbed by the disruption and noise of construction and then in unknown ways by the sound of hundreds of turbines propagated underwater .
it was the BEST news in ages!! not only the humans but the poor farm animals have been enduring this. hmm study on effects of Infrasound on unhatched eggs of native birds.. or ditto on native animals in the areas
stuff that SHOULD be done but no one will cough up funds of course
A fine example of Lefty activists creating a real problem as a consequence of politicians agreeing to their solution to the imaginary one of CO2 emissions.
And then there’s this…emerging evidence that wind turbines alter the climate.
https://humanevents.com/2022/03/24/industrial-wind-towers-cause-warming/
Pffttt, mines with neighbours have been modifying operations at night and in certain atmospheric conditions to minimise impacts on neighbours for decades.
This industry has to start understanding that the externalities which underwrites their entire industry also applies to them when they impact on others.
We have had enough windmills in enough areas for enough time to conduct a good study: examine health parameters across time for people living at differing distances from windmill farms.
The rural communities should be fairly homogeneous. You can do a comparison between similar individuals living within and outside a noise zone. Examine their blood pressure across time.
You could survey a good study sample about mental health – irritability, sleep quality, etc. Whatever is supposed to be affected by the noise. Just don’t tell the study participants the specific hypothesis: that those in the noise zone should, generally, have worse health on whatever measures are suspected to be infected.
Then, ask for permission to access their health care data – medical record, and claims.