Zeff believes there is an overwhelming case to establish the north east wheatbelt as a renewable energy hub to support Western Australia achieve its ambitious greenhouse gas targets.
Zeff has been working with landowners across the wheatbelt region of Western Australia since 2022 to secure sufficient land to construct and operate wind farms.
Its approach to wind farm development includes the steps below:
Zeff has to date secured the exclusive right to negotiate over approximately 150,000 hectares of land in the Wheatbelt. This land area equates to over 10GW of renewable wind energy. The wheatbelt region meets all of the State’s requirements for approval as a renewable energy hub.
Zeff has installed sodar units across the wheatbelt at its Walebing, Bodallin and NEWBE project locations. The diurnal profile identified through these units suggests the wind is most prevalent during the night time, which complements solar generation capability. The wind quality is also world class averaging over 8 metes / second.
The wheatbelt has huge tracts of agricultural land available at relatively low value. While land values have been increasing in recent years, there is limited demand for much of the most isolated parts of the wheatbelt where the wind is of very high quality.
The huge volume of available land suggests that the wheatbelt could solve the vast majority of the State’s renewable energy demand - supply imbalance. It is not inconceivable that the wheatbelt could supply as much as 100GW of renewable energy without significantly impacting its cropping capability.
When determining generation capacity on farming land, standard industry assumption is 1 turbine for every 100 hectares of land. Each turbine is capable of producing 6 - 7 Megawatts of energy. The 100GW generation capability is based on the following assumptions:
The Federal Government has also announced its Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive (HTPI) that will pay developers A$2 per kilogram of green hydrogen over a ten-year period, starting from 2027. This subsidy provides great support to the Wheatbelt’s case as a location for large scale green energy generation and transmission.
Zeff has been welcomed by famers across the wheatbelt and has found an overwhelmingly positive response by almost all land owners, regardless of age, socio-economic status or scale of land holding.
Clearly, the low economic value of the land and last year’s poor cropping result are key drivers behind these attitudes. Farmers are also usually committed to environmental protection and sustainable land use to ensure that their farms remain economically viable. By supporting renewable energy on their own land, they are voting with their feet to demonstrate support for environmental sustainability from which they will in turn derive an economic benefit.
Renewable energy generation is a complementary industry to the primary industry production that typifies land use in the wheatbelt. Farmers can identify with wind turbines because they have been an essential part of farming history (windmills have provided power to water pumps for centuries) and also because they utilise land for economic gain.
Given that the vast majority of the wheatbelt has already been cleared of native vegetation and denuded of native fauna, there exists the great opportunity to establish windfarms on a massive scale without impacting environmental values and its diversity.
Where we have actively tested attitudes of the local community towards renewable energy generation, we have seen overwhelming support and almost no opposition. This is not surprising given the experience of these farming communities, which has seen consistent community and economic decline over the last 50 years. The speed of this decline is increasing due mostly to the departure of smaller landowners and relocation of families to community centres that boast more facilities.
Economic decline in these communities has been the constant experience over decades and their members are feeling angry about their powerlessness to reverse the trend. At this time, the smallest communities see renewable energy projects as their ONLY opportunity to maintain the viability of their towns.
In stark contrast to the Wheatbelt, some Western Australian communities that have been the target of wind farm developments have felt that developers are trampling on their collective rights to be informed, consulted and engaged in the project development process and fear that this will translate into negative experiences into the future. Some local communities have expressed outrage at their lack of involvement in planning for development such as the Offshore Wind Farm Zone stretching from Dawesville to Busselton.
Opposition to renewable energy appears to be most concentrated in coastal communities, which is not unexpected given the higher impact of renewable energy projects on visual amenity.
Many small wheatbelt communities have experienced unreliable residential power supply over such a long time that it is now just considered the natural way of things. While they remain angry about this situation, they also feel powerless to effect change. By committing to establish the wheatbelt as a renewable energy hub, the State can guarantee reliable power supply as part of this commitment.
Zeff has three main contacts for Government stakeholders:
Troy Santen – for any electrical or engineering aspects
Jane Pay – for planning and development aspects
Blair McGlew – for community and legislative approval aspects
