Taralga Wind Farm

Interesting to visit this wind farm which took eleven years from 2004 when development application was first lodged to the completion of construction and opening in late 2015. It was the subject of litigation in the NSW Land and Environment Court, in Taralga Landscape Guardians Inc v Minister for Planning and RES Southern Cross Pty Ltd [2007] NSWLEC 59. CJ Preston, in his decision, wrote: "[1] The insertion of wind turbines into a non-industrial landscape is perceived by many as a radical change which confronts their present reality...[2] To others, ...It would represent an ..one much needed step in policy settings confronting carbon emissions and global warming. [3] Resolving this conundrum - the conflict between the geographically narrower concerns of the Guardians and the broader public good of increasing the supply of renewable energy - has not been easy. However, I have concluded that, on balance, the broader public good must prevail."

What a great sight! We should have these on every windy range in the country! Gives me hope that this country has a future.

非常棒的风车大阵，有气场，落日极美

For anyone looking to just drive to the base of the turbines, the closest you can get is about 1km away, which is a locked gate on Old Showground Rd.

Like all wind farms located in the Upper Lachlan Shire Council (ULSC), apart from a select group of notoriously greedy graziers, locals receive no benefits: energy generated by the turbines feeds into Canberra's electricity grid. Not the local villages of ULSC. Almost no locals are employed by the foreign-owned wind farm companies, whose "community consultation process" is a joke. Of course Australia needs renewable energy. But local communities must be involved and enjoy the benefits. Biala is next: a massive wind farm owned by a Chinese company is about to violate err I mean "develop" some of the most beautiful and productive country in the Southern Tablelands. Again, the "consultation process" was a joke: locals rocked up only to be told the wind farm was a given. The local Aboriginal land council was not consulted, indeed, Ngunnawal people are never consulted by ULSC or the foreign wind farm companies. The Taralga Wind Farm is a blot on the landscape. The placement of the turbines is a visual atrocity, they are too close to the village. And why should Canberrans enjoy lower electricity prices because the NSW State Government and ULSC collude to give it to them? Why aren't locals getting the benefits of renewable energy? Why are contracts to build wind farms consistently awarded to Chinese and Dutch companies, which are only concerned with maximising profits through low tax incentives offered by the Australian Government? It is a scandal. Most appalling of all, the electorate of Hume, where these wind farms are located, is represented by Angus Taylor, who is known to be in league with the anti-wind farm lobby. Yet he has done nothing to advance the interests of locals, or ensure that if wind farms are to be a fact of life in the Upper Lachlan (which they evidently are) participate in negotiations with wind farm companies to secure benefits for locals--such as the bleeding bloody obvious: energy generated by the turbines should not be enjoyed solely by ignorant ACT bludgers, who live in a bubble and have no idea where their "green energy" comes from: rural NSW. It is scandalous. Shame on you ULSC. Shame on you Angus Taylor. Neither gives a damn about the people of this region. Putting the interests of Canberrans first? How do you sleep at night?