NSW Farmers’ is calling for urgent protections for farmers who host renewables after the former Energy Infrastructure Commissioner warned farmers could be on the hook for millions in the future.
In an interview published Wednesday, former Energy Infrastructure Commissioner Andrew Dyer warned farmers could be left “on the hook” for the costs of decommissioning old renewable installations on their farms, if contracts were unclear on “who pays what”.
“It might cost you more to decommission the turbines left on your property than the revenue you earn over the next 25 years,” The Daily Telegraph reported.
NSW Farmers’ energy taskforce chair Reg Kidd said energy developers should be required to pay a bond to cover the costs of decommissioning the projects they had built, so farmers were not left to pay millions in project clean-up costs.
“Farmers are being told they need to bear the burden of powering our future, the very least government can do is guarantee they won’t be bankrupted as a result,” Mr Kidd said.
“These comments from Andrew Dyer are really alarming. Farmers could be left with a clean-up bill in the millions for some of the projects being built on their farms – and that will simply cripple them.
“Many landholders have been pressured into signing contracts that are unclear as to who must remove this infrastructure at the end of its life, and if developers disappear or run out of cash, then farmers could also be left high and dry with huge bills to pay.”
With media reports claiming the costs of decommissioning some of New South Wales’ largest wind developments could be as much as $50 million, Mr Kidd said there must be swift reassurances and legal protections from government to protect farmers.
“We’ve got one of our top energy experts in the nation telling us that farmers could be left with a bill that’s more than 25 years’ worth of their income to clean up the mess that these renewable projects leave,” Mr Kidd said.
“So we’re expected to feed people, clothe people, power their homes, and in 25 years’ time we might be relying on the goodness of some foreign multinational not to leave us high and dry.
“This race to renewables is a government priority, so if they care about the farmers and communities that host these developments, the very least they can do is guarantee we won’t foot the bill.”
