In the serene hills around Oberon, New South Wales, a landscape celebrated by artist Brett Whiteley as "the most beautiful I have seen in Australia," a battle is raging. European renewable energy developer TagEnergy plans to erect at least 250 wind turbines, each soaring 300 metres high, in the pine plantations south of this picturesque town. These towering structures, nearly as tall as Sydney's Centrepoint Tower, will stand just a kilometre from the UNESCO-designated Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, threatening to transform a pristine outback region into an industrial eyesore. The Pines wind farm, one of Australia's largest proposed renewable projects, has sparked fierce opposition from locals who argue it will wreck the natural beauty of the outback, disrupt ecosystems, and deliver dubious economic benefits. This discussion contends that the proliferation of wind turbines across Australia's rural heartlands risks irreversible environmental and cultural damage while failing to justify its economic promises.
The Environmental Cost: A Landscape Under Siege
The Oberon region, with its mist-shrouded valleys, trout-filled waterways, and proximity to the Kanangra-Boyd National Park and Jenolan Caves, is a jewel of Australia's outback. Its delicate balance of agriculture, tourism, and nature is now at risk from The Pines wind farm, which opponents like Chris Muldoon of Oberon Against Wind Towers call a "global embarrassment." The 300-metre turbines, dwarfing the 35-metre pine trees, will dominate the skyline, altering the very character of a region cherished for its unspoiled vistas. Muldoon argues that placing such structures near a UNESCO World Heritage Area is indefensible, a sentiment echoed in a petition with over 13,000 signatures and a formal complaint to UNESCO, which has prompted the organisation to seek further information from Australia.
Beyond aesthetics, the environmental impacts are profound. The turbines' proximity to the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and other reserves, like the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area, raises concerns about wildlife. NSW planning authorities have flagged "serious concerns" about the impact on threatened species, using key landscape corridors between national parks. Birds and bats, critical to the region's ecosystems, face risks from turbine blades, with studies suggesting that wind farms can kill wildlife, even if less than other structures like high-rise buildings. TagEnergy's promise of two years of wildlife monitoring is cold comfort when light pollution and habitat disruption from construction and operation are inevitable. The claim that turbines will have "low or very low visual impact" from key sites like Jenolan Caves or Echo Point is questionable, as the sheer scale of the project, potentially expanding beyond 250 turbines onto private land, will undeniably alter the outback's wild character.
Bushfire risk, a perennial threat in Australia, adds another layer of concern. Oberon mayor Andrew McKibbin highlights worries about how turbines could complicate firefighting efforts in pine plantations, despite TagEnergy's assurances of lightning protection and fire suppression systems. The construction process, involving heavy machinery and widened roads, could also damage cultural landmarks like the Anzac memorial avenue in O'Connell, a century-old tribute to World War I veterans. These environmental costs threaten not only the outback's natural beauty but also its tourism industry, which relies on attractions like Mayfield Garden and farm stays to draw visitors seeking an authentic rural experience.
Questionable Economic Benefits
Proponents of The Pines wind farm, including TagEnergy and Stromlo Energy's Matthew Parton, argue that it will bring economic benefits, including $100 million in "near-neighbour" payments to nearly 200 landholders within 3.5 kilometres of the turbines, offering $1,000 to $5,000 annually per turbine. The project also promises community funds and electricity bill credits rising to $250 per year during construction, set to begin in 2028 if approved. However, these benefits are overshadowed by significant economic drawbacks and inequities.
First, the financial incentives are divisive. While some landholders stand to gain, others, like sheep farmer Anthony Hoolihan, reject offers worth millions to protect the region's character, arguing that the turbines' encroachment from state-owned pine plantations onto private land undermines community autonomy. The absence of non-disclosure agreements does little to mitigate the perception of "kickbacks" for turbine hosts, as noted by residents near other wind farms who receive no compensation despite enduring noise and visual impacts. This pits neighbour against neighbour, as seen in Queensland's MacIntyre wind farm, where non-hosting farmers like Scott Tait feel powerless and uncompensated for turbines visible from their properties.
Second, the broader economic case for wind farms is shaky. While renewables are touted as cost-effective, with wind and solar being Australia's cheapest new-build energy sources according to the CSIRO's GenCost report, community opposition and infrastructure costs can erode these savings. An Ipsos survey revealed that 37% of Australians wrongly blame renewables for rising power bills, a misconception fuelled by misinformation but also by real issues like high time-of-use tariffs and grid connection delays. The Pines project's reliance on existing transmission lines is a double-edged sword: while it reduces infrastructure needs, it risks overloading regional grids, potentially leading to curtailment of wind power, as seen in South Australia where wind is sometimes turned off to prioritise rooftop solar.
Moreover, the economic benefits for Oberon's tourism and agriculture sectors are uncertain. Mayor McKibbin warns that the turbines could deter visitors who come for the region's rolling hills and snow experiences, threatening businesses like airbnbs and Mayfield Garden. The claim that wind farms make farms "more drought-proof" by providing stable income is questionable, when only a select few landholders benefit, and the broader community faces potential losses in tourism revenue. The lack of transparency about Forestry Corporation's lease arrangements with TagEnergy further fuels scepticism, as Oberon Council struggles to assess how rates and local services will be affected.
A Misguided Push for Renewables
The Pines wind farm is part of a broader rush to meet Australia's net-zero emissions targets, with the NSW government amending the Forestry Act in 2021 to allow wind farms in pine plantations, bypassing the need to clear native vegetation or negotiate with private landholders. However, this top-down approach ignores community concerns and prioritises renewable targets over environmental and cultural preservation. The federal government's goal of 82% renewable energy by 2030, backed by a $17 billion investment in 6.4 gigawatts of clean generation, faces delays due to planning issues and social license concerns, as noted by Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen. Projects like The Pines exacerbate these tensions, as communities feel "steamrolled" by developers, a sentiment echoed by anti-wind groups like Reckless Renewables in the Illawarra.
The argument that wind farms are essential for decarbonisation is also contested. Critics like Barnaby Joyce wrongly blame renewables for high power bills, but the real issue lies in the mismanagement of the energy transition, with coal plant failures and global gas price spikes driving costs. Alternatives like nuclear power, while controversial, are gaining traction as a reliable complement to intermittent renewables, with experts like Jasmin Diab arguing for a mixed energy approach. Yet, the government's focus on wind and solar, often at the expense of regional communities, overlooks energy productivity and storage solutions like pumped hydro, which could balance the grid without scarring the landscape. Or, simplyh keeping to fossil fuels.
A Call for Balance and Reassessment
The Pines wind farm and similar projects risk wrecking Australia's outback by choosing renewable targets over environmental and community values. The Oberon Against Wind Towers group, with its 13,000-signature petition, two council seats, and UNESCO appeal, exemplifies a growing resistance to poorly planned renewable projects. To address these concerns, the following steps are critical:
1.Prioritise Environmental Protection: Relocate wind farms away from world heritage areas and sensitive ecosystems, using rigorous environmental impact assessments to protect wildlife and landscapes.
2.Enhance Community Engagement: Mandate transparent consultations and equitable compensation for all affected residents, not just turbine hosts, to prevent community division.
3.Reassess Economic Models: Conduct independent studies to evaluate the true economic impact on tourism and agriculture, ensuring that promised benefits outweigh costs.
4.Explore Alternatives: Invest in complementary technologies like pumped hydro, batteries, and nuclear to reduce reliance on landscape-altering wind farms. Better yet, keep with fossil fuels and reject the climate change cult.
5.Strengthen Oversight: Require NSW and federal governments to disclose lease agreements and fund social impact studies, as requested by Oberon Council, to ensure accountability.
Australia's outback, with its unique beauty and cultural significance, is too precious to sacrifice for poorly conceived renewable projects. The Pines wind farm, with its 300-metre turbines looming over Oberon's hills, threatens to industrialise a landscape that has inspired artists and sustained communities for generations. The economic benefits, limited to a few landholders and overshadowed by potential losses in tourism and community cohesion, are far from compelling. As the nation foolishly races toward net-zero, it must balance decarbonisation with preservation, ensuring that the winds of change do not destroy the very outback that defines Australia's soul. Hopefully people will awaken from the climate change illusion in time, and reverse this nonsense.
"The soft hills around Oberon, a scenic town in the western fall of the Blue Mountains, haven't changed much since celebrated artist Brett Whiteley declared the landscape "the most beautiful I have seen in Australia''.
The fat lambs still grow in mist-shrouded valleys; the winding waterways still brim with trout.
Further south, the sandstone magnificence of the Kanangra-Boyd National Park and the Jenolan Caves, the oldest known open-cave system in the world, are as prized today as when Whiteley travelled the region in 1979, staying in radio king John Laws' rustic weekender.
Until now, the winds of change have blown gently through Oberon, a southern gateway to wild sections of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage area, 180km west of Sydney.
It's a region that has balanced the needs of agriculture, tourism, nature and industry linked to the extensive pine plantations that supply timber, jobs, and in autumn, exotic wood mushrooms for fungus foragers.
These state-owned pine plantations are a key part of the region's economy but now they're at the centre of one of Australia's most heated wind-farm debates, which has reached all the way to UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
Plans by European renewable developer TagEnergy to build at least 250 turbines, standing 300m high, in pine forests south of Oberon have sparked a fierce response, not just because of their proximity to neighbouring farms and the feared impact on the district, but also because of their location near the UNESCO-designated world heritage area.
The closest turbines will be within a kilometre of the protected zone and will dwarf the pine trees that typically grow to 35m.
Carpet-bombing the landscape with turbines almost as tall as Sydney's Centrepoint tower will change the very nature of this special place, says staunch opponent Chris Muldoon, director of Mayfair Garden, a spectacular 64ha attraction north of Oberon.
"It doesn't matter what your views on renewable energy are, surely most people would agree it doesn't make sense to construct huge wind turbines on the boundary of a world heritage area,'' he says.
His group, Oberon Against Wind Towers, took its appeal to UNESCO headquarters calling for an urgent investigation to "stop the madness" before the landscape around this part of the world heritage area is rendered an "industrial eyesore".
"Our community group is not opposed to the rollout of renewable energy, but it must be done in a way that does not ruin the environment … The choice between having renewable energy and saving the environment is not a binary one," Robert Snoch, president of the community group said in the letter of complaint.
"Our group considers this wind tower proposal to be a global embarrassment for our country."
Community uprisings against wind, solar and transmission lines are gathering pace in regional Australia, delaying projects and threatening the federal government's renewable energy targets.
But this proposal, one of the biggest wind farms in the country, has unleashed a particularly brutal and organised campaign by the anti-wind turbine group.
"We went full junkyard dog,'' says Muldoon.
As quickly as the developers could knock on doors and issue press releases about the $100m on offer to turbine neighbours, opponents were gathering "no deal" pledges from the very same landowners.
A petition against the project has more than 13,000 signatures, a complaint has been lodged with the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, and the Oberon Against Wind Towers group stood candidates in the 2024 local government election, securing two seats on Oberon council.
Muldoon says the group, comprising 20 committee members and a core supporter group of about 200 residents, is well funded, litigious and up for the fight.
They went into the battle with no expectations of a sympathetic ear from federal or NSW authorities. In the race to meet net-zero emissions targets, both levels of government stand accused of supporting renewable energy developers at the expense of the regions.
UNESCO responded that it would seek more information from Australia, and former environment minister Tanya Plibersek wrote in March that her department had informed the developer of its obligations under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. "The Australian government welcomes the community's role in keeping an eye on issues,'' Plibersek wrote.
It wasn't an encouraging response. After seeing landowner groups in other regions unsuccessfully argue their case to governments, Muldoon's group now has one aim: to kick the wind farm out of town.
Wind picks upIt was an uncontroversial move in 2021 when the NSW coalition government amended the Forestry Act to allow wind farms in four softwood locations in the central-west and southern inland.
This dual-use option overcame a number of challenges: there was no need to find landholders to host turbines and no need to clear native vegetation or take up prime agricultural land.
"Pine plantations are large areas often in windy locations with access to power lines and a good existing road network," Forestry Corporation said in a statement.
Communities around pine forests are accustomed to living in changing natural landscapes as tracts are logged and replanted, and they understand the economic benefits that come with the industry.
Matthew Parton, director of Stromlo Energy which is working with TagEnergy to develop The Pines wind farm, says the availability of wind and the existing large transmission line made the project in the Gurnang, Mount David and Vulcan state forests, more than 15km south of Oberon, particularly attractive.
His team has been active in the community since TagEnergy was awarded a permit to investigate the project.
It's handed funds to community groups and offered $100 electricity bill credits to residents, which will rise to $250 per year during construction (due to start in 2028 if approval is granted) and operation.
Most of his company's attention has been on the almost 200 landholders located within 3.5km of a turbine who stand to share in more than $100m over 35 years in near-neighbour payments. Under the program, payments ranging from $1000 to $5000 a year per turbine are being offered – a good passive income, according to the developers; a terrible deal, according to opponents.
Unlike some other projects, landholders are not being asked to sign non-disclosure agreements. "And anyone who signs is still welcome to object to the project,'' Parton says. "We're finding the conversations with people closest to the project have been really productive."
While the anti-wind tower group has published a map indicating resistance from more than 100 landholders, Parton insists landholders are doing deals and some even want to host turbines, making it a real possibility the wind farm will spill out of the pine plantation onto private land.
"We expect the final number of turbines will be greater than 250; we think 250 is kind of the starting point,'' Parton says.
It's a bitter disappointment to sheep farmer and long-time resident Anthony Hoolihan, whose property south of Oberon at Porters Retreat will be surrounded on three sides by The Pines wind farm.
"We've been fighting wind-tower companies wanting to put turbines on our land for more than 10 years; the private landholders of this area don't want them at all,'' he says. "But now the Forestry (Corporation) has let them in on their land, we don't get a say. But we're totally against it.''
Hoolihan's property is prized because it has a connection to the transmission line and he's knocked back offers well into the millions. "They all want to tap into that break in the line so they come and offer a lot of money to buy land or for us to sign up with them, but I'm not prepared to sell out the district for a couple of million dollars,'' he says.
Oberon mayor Andrew McKibbin says the proposal has been divisive in the community, with groups for and against and a large pool of people wanting more information. What are the costs and benefits? How will it impact tourism, housing, roads and services?
Bushfire risk is a real concern. The developers say the turbines will have lightning protection, fire suppression and smoke-detection systems, which means they will improve security across the plantations.
McKibbin says his council wants the central-west forestry hub to investigate fire risks and whether the turbines will impact firefighting efforts.
"So we're concerned about bushfire and we're obviously worried for our tourist industry because we have people come here for the lifestyle, the rolling hills and the snow experience," he says. "We have Mayfield Garden, we have Jenolan Caves (due to reopen next year after flooding and landslips) and numerous airbnbs and farm stays. All these tourist attractions will be affected."
The Anzac memorial avenue of 120 desert ash trees in O'Connell, between Bathurst and Oberon, was planted almost 100 years ago to commemorate those who served in World War I. How will these trees survive the trucks carting massive turbines?
"That is one of the big issues because that memorial avenue is very close to the hearts of people in O'Connell, Oberon as well as Bathurst,'' McKibbin says.
"The Pines have been very good in their communication strategy and they've been having regular meetings with council and with the communities, but we still have a lot of questions unanswered,'' he says.
The local government area, which has another wind farm slated for Paling Yards, 60km south of Oberon, is not in a formal renewable energy zone and the council wants the NSW government to fund an economic and social analysis. It also wants more information about the lease arrangement with Forestry Corporation to determine how it charges rates. "And basically that information is not being disclosed to us," McKibbin says. "It's contentious and it's dividing the community; we need more information on the overall effect so people can make an educated decision.''
Turbine alleyA daisy chain of wind farms on ridgelines along the Great Dividing Range from north Queensland to Victoria has caused alarm not just because of clearing of native habitat but because of proximity to national parks and reserves.
NSW planning and environment bureaucrats recently responded to 80-turbine Sunny Corner planned for a pine plantation in the central tablelands, 40 minutes north of Oberon. Significant concerns were raised about visual impacts and the network of nature reserves in proximity to the turbines, including the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area and Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
"This network of national parks, nature reserves and state forest form key landscape corridors, which would likely be utilised by a variety of fauna travelling between foraging resources and refuge habitat," departmental advisers said. "We have serious concerns about the potential indirect and prescribed impacts on threatened species utilising these landscape corridors."
Parton acknowledges The Pines turbines will also be close to airspace used by birds and bats living in nearby national parks. He says two years of surveys and wildlife monitoring will be carried out to satisfy environmental requirements. "We can't build a project if it's going to have an excessive impact on birds and bats,'' he says.
Opponents argue the giant turbines and associated light pollution will also have an impact on the values of the wilderness area.
Parton says visual assessments at 46 camp sites, walking tracks and lookouts in the national parks showed "low or very low visual impact under the NSW guidelines.
"If you look at the Three Sisters, Echo Point, Jenolan Caves, the project will have zero impact, it will not be visible from these locations," he says.
But he concedes the wind farm will alter the natural landscape of this part of the Oberon region. There's no getting away from that.
Opponents attack the wind farm on multiple fronts but amid the conflict over contracts and neighbour deals, claim and counter claim, there is a central issue: the landscape, which so inspired Whiteley and still draws people looking for an authentic rural experience. "Oberon people love their community,'' Muldoon says.
"And they want to protect their way of life and the extraordinarily beautiful environment in which we live."