Community Engagement in the Renewable Energy

Sector

Australian’s clean energy future is linked to careful community engagement

Ketan Joshi, Research and Communications Officer

16/07/2015

Australian Clean Energy Summit

Balancing Science and Sentiment

2

http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Hotel_Review-g1725095-d1723516-Reviews-Codrington_Gardens-Codrington_Victoria.html

The Codrington Bed and Breakfast

@KetanJ0 #ACES2015

3 Source http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-10/clay-wi-fi-might-not-hurt-us-but-fear-of-it-certainly-does/6607860

Health fears emerge around smart meters, due to natural human reactions

@KetanJ0 #ACES2015

4 http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/reports-of-illness-prompt-audit-of-smart-meter-radiation/story-fni0fit3-1226990214029

http://www.peoplepowervictoria.org.au/charter

Smart meter health fears emerged quickly in Victoria

@KetanJ0 #ACES2015

5 Source http://dynam-it.com/lennart/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/07/factors_in_rp_risk_analysis.pdf

http://www.susannahertrich.com/risk.php

We perceive greater risk from things that we don’t control

@KetanJ0 #ACES2015

6

http://www.susannahertrich.com/risk.php

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cartoon/2014/jun/02/first-dog-cartoon-climate

Compare the government policy response to national security and climate change

@KetanJ0 #ACES2015

7

Evidence reviews, acoustic measurements and legal cases consistently contradict health fears

@KetanJ0 #ACES2015

Association of Australian Acoustical Consultants (2013)

Victorian Department of Health (2013)

NSW Health (2013)

Worksafe Victoria (2013)

Doctors for the Environment Australia (2011)

Climate and Health Alliance (2012)

Public Health Association of Australia (2013)

South Australian Environmental Protection Agency (2013)

National Health and Medical Research Council (2014)

Australian Medical Association (2014)

http://www.energyandpolicy.org/overview-of-wind-

health-court-cases

8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHeY-JnDsY8

http://stateandcapitol.bangordailynews.com/2014/04/09/bills-to-give-residents-of-unorganized-territory-more-say-in-wind-deals-are-dead/

Themes of invasion and permission dominate anti-windfarm messaging

@KetanJ0 #ACES2015

9

Residents nominated an acoustician to compare noise to diarised symptoms. Media coverage ensued….

@KetanJ0 #ACES2015

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/seeking-

peace-from-turbine-turbulence/story-e6frg6xf-1227294803563

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/end-the-smug-

untouchability-of-the-wind-industry/story-e6frg6zo-1227390301649

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/call-to-

subject-others-to-wind-farm-noise/story-e6frg6xf-1227278743162

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/canadian-

research-boosts-coopers-case-on-turbines/story-e6frg8y6-

1227236182046

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/legal-move-

threatened-over-media-watch-report/story-fna045gd-1227234600320

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-17/business-as-usual-for-wind-

farm-operator-despite/6126018

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-21/wind-turbine-study-cape-

bridgewater/6030044

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/turbine-

study-not-meant-to-be-scientific/story-e6frg6xf-1227285240322

10

Anti-windfarm messaging

@KetanJ0 #ACES2015 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-15/euro-wind-power/6620936

11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1TzQMEfDL8

We won’t see deep cuts to carbon emissions without an

enhanced and consistent focus on community

engagement and ownership, combined with a clear

understanding of the importance of high quality science.

Twitter - @KetanJ0

Email: Ketan.joshi@infigenenergy.com

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12

Coonooer Bridge Wind Farm Pioneering a Fairer Model for Regional Australia

Matthew Parton

• Global wind farm developer,

• Technology and research focussed: formed out of CSIRO,

• Headquarters and technical hub in Canberra,

• Over 7,000MW of developments internationally

We realised: community division is bad news for developers

• Delay in permitting or appeals,

• Continuing objections during construction/operation leading to delay,

• Hurt company image,

• Reduce investment potential, or higher return demanded

• Drain on development resources/morale,

• Broader industry impacts,

• Failure in social obligations.

We did research

Hall, Ashworth, Hylton. Exploring community acceptance of Rural wind farms in Australia: a snapshot, CSIRO 2012.

For neighbours

Building trust takes time

• Meet face-to-face

• Don’t argue in emails

• Follow through with promises (keep register)

• Listen/act on root cause

• Give community control

• Be transparent

I don’t want to live next to turbines

I oppose the project

I use my most

effective ammunition

The developer

tells me I’m wrong

I become more angry

Work on this

Not on this

Equity for Project Neighbours

Windlab Project

Neighbours

Coonooer Bridge

Wind Farm

Equity for Project Neighbours

Prepare

• Trust Principles

• Workshop distribution

• Legal advice on setup

Offer

• One-on-one meetings with offer

• Group presentation of plan

Discuss

• 18 Months to negotiate final offer

• Offer evolved over time

• Community had control of process

Finalise

• Legal documents drafted

• 100% uptake

But... No such thing as a free lunch!

Other things that helped • Smaller project size,

• Project team with rural background,

• Location with few lifestyle blocks,

• Lucky that the Coonooer Bridge community wanted to stay together

What was the Outcome?

• Unanimous approval at local council with no appeal,

• Minimal objection,

• 5 month assessment,

• No community divide,

• No negative press,

• Letters of Support from all stakeholders,

• Development team is energised,

• Strong community support helped in achieving a feed in tariff,

• Construction now underway!

Coonooer Bridge Wind Farm

Positive Impacts • Treated the root cause

• Equity was a good way of aligning Windlab’s interests with neighbours

Trust • Meet face-to-face

• Don’t argue in emails

• Follow through with promises (keep register)

• Listen/act on root cause

• Give community control

• Be transparent

Establishing the social licence to operate large scale solar facilities in Australia Clean Energy Summit 2015

Presented by Stuart Clark

Agenda

• Why social licence to operate?

• Objectives

• Social context of large scale facilities

• Five building blocks of SLO for large scale solar

Efficiency and reliability

Visual impacts

Environmental impacts

Economic and employment impacts

Health impacts

Why social licence to operate?

The lack of social licence is impacting the wind industry

Objectives

1. Understand general attitudes 2. Understand what drives acceptability 3. Produce a guide to establishing SLO

To identify the preconditions necessary for utility scale solar facilities to have a social licence to operate in Australia

Three phases of research

• 15 group discussions • 8 locations

• Melbourne (Vic) • Sydney (NSW) • Perth (WA) • Brisbane (Qld) • Darwin (NT) • Geraldton (WA) • Dubbo (NSW) • Broken Hill (NSW)

• Online survey • Nationally

representative sample • n= 1197

• Stakeholder interviews

• Stakeholders involved with five developing solar facilities

• Daly River (NT) • Greenough River (WA) • Kogan Creek (Qld) • Nyngan (NSW) • Broken Hill (NSW)

1 Qualitative Quantitative Review 2 3

Australians love solar energy…

Domestic solar frames our understanding…

… but knowledge of large scale solar is limited

Five building blocks underpin SLO for large scale solar

Reliability and efficiency

Questions of efficiency are top of mind for the public

Provide information about:

• Facility size

• Land use compared to energy output

• Efficiency compared to other energy sources

• Grid connections and where the energy will be used

• Use metrics that are readily understood by the public

“It comes back to how all the technologies they’ve got for solar power at the moment are not efficient – you don’t get much back for what you’ve got to do and what you’ve got to spend. I think it will always play a part, but I don’t think it will be a big part.”

Visual impacts

Stronger reputation than wind farms

“They’re probably not overly attractive, but better [than wind farms].”

“They’d probably be spread for miles, there’d be nothing particularly attractive about them, but they could probably be hidden.”

“I’ve not heard a single bad word about the solar plant. It doesn’t have some of the issues of a wind farm, for example. As far as everyone is concerned it just sits there”

But opinions are polarised and knowledge is limited

• 30% agree that large scale solar facilities have a negative visual impact on the local landscape

• Help the public understand what large scale solar looks like

• Use images and plans extensively

• Websites and print

• Information sessions

• Provide information and images about impact mitigation

Environmental impacts

• Regional communities tend to be less concerned about impacts than the wider community

• Provide information about previous land use and scale in the landscape

• Highlight the wider benefits (but be mindful of climate scepticism)

• Communicate clearly about local impact mitigation

• Address both short-term and longer-term impacts

Economic and employment impacts

“Obviously not everything can come from town, but there was a bit of an issue in that some of the things that could possibly have been got from town like meat supplies for the dining room, are being brought in from elsewhere… it’s a bit harder for some in the community to understand”

• Provide realistic information:

• Local job opportunities

• Timeframes

• Ensure opportunities are seen to flow through

• Manage concerns about non-local workers

• Understand what ‘local’ jobs mean to the community

Health impacts

Participant 1: “They [solar panels] could even cause cancer, you just don’t know.”

Participant 2: “Is there any research into that?”

• Highlight similarities to domestic and commercial solar

• Include messaging on basic health and safety

• Leverage perceptions of health benefits relative to non- renewables (e.g. lower air pollution)

http://arena.gov.au/project/utility-scale-solar-installations-social-license-to-operate-in-australia/