Social acceptance!

1 February 2014!

Hepburn Wind!
"! rst community owned wind farm in Australia, completed June 2011! "! 2 turbines, 4.1MW to power the town ! "! local response to global issue! "! harness the skills and capital of the community! "! focus on returning benets to local region community enterprise model!

Hepburn Wind structure!

"! co-operative ownership! "! 2000 members, $9.8m contributed towards $13.5m project! "! leased agricultural land! "! electricity delivered to local grid, sold to retailer Red Energy! "! $1m+ to community fund! "! prots to members! "! neighbourhood benet program: gift of shares, cheaper electricity! "! 3 local part time staff all woman executive, 7 board members!

Planning and compliance "pre and post construction!

Community wind subject to the same rigorous compliance conditions as commercial wind development.! "! noise! "! bats / avifauna! "! cultural heritage! "! visual impact! "! EMR/EMI! ! electricity network! ! aviation risk! ! trafc management! ! shadow / icker! ! ora / fauna!

Building support is an ongoing journey!

Pre construction! "! education : street stalls, bus tours, events, house visits, membership drive, capital raising, community meetings! "! communication: ads in local papers, press releases, e-news, social media! "! community approach: local focus, harness the skills and capital of the community, upskill community members! You never stop building support! "! once the project is built: events, wind farm tours, AGMs, social media, advocacy!

Current socio-political challenges in Australia!

Locally ! ! Federal Governments repeal of carbon price = large revenue impact for Hepburn wind! Regionally! ! Victorian State Government imposed the toughest wind regulations in the world in 2011 has stalled commercial/community wind development! Nationally ! ! review of the Renewable Energy Target! ! conservative politicians joining the anti-wind lobby calling for further health studies / noise monitoring conditions! ! wind farm opposition stalling projects! ! role of media in propagating misinformation!

building support = demystifying wind energy!

Next generation of community wind projects!

"! Western Australia 1.6MW Denmark Community Wind project completed in 2013, Freemantle Community Wind in early stages! "! Victoria WISE and MACRenewables are hoping for change in state government in late 2014 to progress their projects! "! NSW "New England Wind is looking at community developer partnership! Future trends "community developer partnerships, Ingen Flyers Creek and other projects to come in 2014!
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# Collaboration, capacity building & advocacy!