A survey of the visual impact and community acceptance of wind farms in Australia

Figures & data

Figure 1. Wind farms in Australia, 2018. Source: Paragon Media, Wind Farm Map of Australia, 2018.

Figure 2. Growth of wind turbine size. Source: www.ucsusa.org/clean-energy/renewable-energy/.

Table 1. Community attitude surveys of wind farms, Australia, 2006–2018.

Date	Location	N	% support	% against	Source
2003	Australia	1,027	Support wf 95% Need wf for electricity 91% Increase RE a lot 67% Increase RE a bit 21% Strongly support wf 67%	Decrease RE a lot 1% Decrease RE a bit 1% Oppose wf 3%	(AWE 2003)
2006	Australia	900	Support growth of wf in Australia 63%		Ashworth, Pisarski, and Littleboy 2006
2006	Tourist centres, Qld & SA	280	Tourist accommodation should have RE 86%		(Dalton, Lockington, and Baldock 2008)
2007	Australia	1,007	Governments should boost wind power 78% 89% want electricity to be min. 25% RE	Govts should boost nuclear 25%	Global Market Insite
2008	Western Australia		Majority think of a wind farm in positive terms. 89% not concerned about visual intrusion.	2% oppose wf	(Bond 2008)
2008	Upper Lachlan Council	4,822	58% support more wf. (Crookwell wf in area)	24% against more wf	Electoral Comm. of NSW *Ramblings
2010	Australia	1,085	80% support for wind 11% neither wind or solar	4.6% against wind	(Bird et al. 2014)
2010	NSW	2,022	85% support wf in NSW 79% support wf within 10 km 60% support wf within 1–2 km	13% against wf in NSW or within 1–2 km.	(NSW Office Env Climate Change & Water 2010)
2011	NSW, Victoria, SA	1,000	National 83% support NSW 77% support Victoria 84% SA 90%	National 14% opposed	Qdos for Pacific Hydro.100 people in 10 electorates. *Ramblings
2011	Waterloo, SA	358	77% support wf 69% for local wf		TRUEnergy *Ramblings
2012	Bungendore, NSW	234	Benefits env. 75%	No benefit 10%	QDos Research *Ramblings
2012	Australia	1,907	Support: wind 38%, solar PV 37%, solar thermal 33%		(Hobman et al. 2012)
2012	Australia	1,101	78% support for wind 10% neither wind or solar	8.6% against wind	(Bird et al. 2014)
2014	NSW	2,000	RE support 91% 83% want more RE 81% support wf.	3% want less RE 11% current levels of RE	(NSW Office Env & Heritage 2015)
2014	Australia		88% in favour wind & solar 95% RE a ‘good idea’	8% against wind & solar 2% RE not a good idea	Newspoll 20/8/14 *Ramblings
2014	Australia		>80% support wind & solar	35% prefer coal	(Moss, Coram, and Blashki 2014)
2016	Australia		Support state RE targets 76%	Against state RE targets 7%	Australia Institute
2017	Hunter Valley NSW		Govt. should invest in RE 59%	Govt. should invest in coal 34% (Coal mining area)	Australia Institute *Ramblings
2017	Australia	1,420	Support state RE targets 77% Keep current Federal RE target 26% Increase Fed. RE target 52% Higher 2030 target 73%	Against state RE targets 10% Reduce Federal RE target 9% Not higher 2030 target 12%	Australia Institute
2017	Australia	1,421	Support Clean Energy Target for more RE 77% Want wind and solar 81%	Don’t support CET 11% Want coal-fired power 16%	Australia Institute
2018	SA		Australia should switch to solar & wind 62%		ReachTEL survey (Anon 2018)

Note: wf = wind farms, RE = renewable energy. Some surveys provided no data on the number of people surveyed.

*Ramblings – see https://ramblingsdc.net/Australia/WindPower.html#Opinion_surveys.

Table 2. Wind farm proposals reviewed by courts.

Year	Location	State	Turbines	Court	Outcome
1995	Cape Bridgewater	Vic	95	Civil & Admin. Tribunal	Rejected*
2001	Toora, South Gippsland	Vic	12	Civil & Admin. Tribunal	Approved
2007	Taralga	NSW	69	Land & Env. Court	Approved
2007	Hepburn	Vic	2	Civil & Admin. Tribunal	Approved
2007	Sale, South Gippsland	Vic	7	Civil & Admin. Tribunal	Approved
2008	Cooramook	Vic	13	Civil & Admin. Tribunal	Approved
2008	Port Campbell	Vic	15	Civil & Admin. Tribunal	Approved
2010	The Sisters, Mortlake	Vic	12	Civil & Admin. Tribunal	Approved
2010	Gullen Range	NSW	73	Land & Env. Court	Approved
2010	Bald Hills, Sth Gippsland	Vic	52	Civil & Admin. Tribunal	Approved
2010	Hallett	SA	33	Env. Resources & Dev. Court	Approved
2011	Allendale	SA	46	Env. Resources & Dev. Court	Rejected
2012	Woolsthorpe	Vic	20	Civil & Admin. Tribunal	Approved
2013	Seymour	Vic	16	Civil & Admin. Tribunal	Approved
2014	Tothill	SA	35	Env. Resources & Dev. Court	Approved
2018	Palmer	SA	114	Env. Resources & Dev. Court	Approved
2020	Rokewood	Vic	228	Supreme Court	Approved

*Note: A larger proposal at Cape Bridgewater was approved by the Minister in 2002 after a thorough review.

Table 3. Means of unweighted and weighted data.

Data	Wind farm	Unweighted ratings	Weighted ratings
Mean	With wf	5.7	6.2
	Without wf	6.9	7.3
Standard Deviation	With wf	0.4	0.4
	Without wf	0.9	0.8

Participants from every State and Territory were included: Qld 76, NSW 170, ACT 22, Vic 111, Tas 11, SA 142, WA 19, NT 2 and 3 unknowns.

Table 4. Familiarity and attitude towards wind farms.

	Never seen one	Seen a few	Seen many	Total	%
Against	1	12	26	39	7.1
In favour	5	203	172	380	68.8
It depends	4	79	50	133	24.1
Total	10	294	248	552	100.0
%	1.81	53.26	44.93	100.00

Figure 3. Change of attitude with increased familiarity of wind farms.

Table 5. Wind farm attitude State & Territory (%).

%	Against	In favour	It depends	Total
Qld	13	70	17	100
NSW	11	66	23	100
ACT	6	67	28	100
Vic	5	71	24	100
Tas	6	88	6	100
SA	6	64	30	100
WA	4	75	21	100
NT	0	100	0	100

Figure 4. Ratings of scenes with and without wind farms.

Figure 5. Acceptability of all wind farms.

Figure 6. Pennington Bay, Kangaroo Island with hypothetical wind farm.

Figure 7. Acceptability of wind farms by scene.

Figure 8. Average ratings by State.

Note: Excludes ten coastal scenes in SA.

Table 6 Percent acceptability rating of wind farms by State.

Average percent per wind farm
State	Wind farm	Scenes	Mean rating	Very Acceptable	Acceptable	Neutral	Unacceptable	Very Unacceptable
NSW	Cullerin Range	3	6.0	30.2	38.8	12.9	11.0	7.2
	Gullen	2	6.6	32.4	41.6	9.9	8.9	7.2
	Capital	2	5.9	34.6	41.3	10.2	9.7	4.2
	Taralga	1	6.2	35.0	40.1	9.7	9.7	5.9
Vic	Ararat	2	7.1	37.3	42.1	7.7	8.4	4.5
	Cape Nelson	1	6.5	32.5	43.0	9.6	8.4	6.5
	Challicum Hills	1	6.3	31.6	42.3	9.1	9.5	7.4
	Macarthur	2	5.5	29.4	36.2	12.4	9.2	12.8
	Mt Mercer	2	5.7	25.8	35.2	12.7	14.0	12.3
	Waubra	4	6.4	33.1	42.0	9.7	8.7	6.5
	Yambuk	2	6.4	33.1	44.2	9.3	7.5	5.8
SA	Bluff Range	1	6.0	29.2	36.2	13.2	10.7	10.6
	Hornsdale	6	6.4	29.4	40.4	11.4	9.5	9.3
	L Bonney	3	5.9	31.6	39.9	11.7	8.5	8.2
	Starfish Hill	1	6.9	32.7	41.9	10.3	9.6	5.5
	Waterloo	3	6.4	32.1	40.4	9.3	10.9	7.3
	Wattle Pt	3	5.8	32.6	38.1	10.2	9.8	9.3
	Coast	10	6.0	18.7	29.1	13.3	20.8	18.2

Mean rating is of scenes with the wind farm.

Figure 9. Mt Mercer wind farm.

Figure 10. Acceptability scores vs ratings (excluding coastal scenes). Trend line: y = 0.0044x + 3.77, R² = 0.39.

Table

	Turbines	Hub/blade m	Total height m	Turbine MW	Total MW	Year
NEW SOUTH WALES
Capital	67	80/44	124	2.1	140.7	2010
Crookwell	8	45/22	67	0.6	4.8	1998
Cullerin Range	15	80/46	126	2	30	2009
Gullen Range	56	80/50	130	2.5	140	2014
Gullen Range	17	85/41	126	1.5	25.5	2014
Gunning	31	80/35	115	1.5	46.5	2011
Taralga	21	80/50	130	2	42	2015
Taralga	21	80/45	125	1.8	37.8	2015
Taralga	9	80/45	125	3	27	2015
Woodlawn	23	80/44	124	2.1	48.3	2011
Total New South Wales	268				402
VICTORIA
Ararat, Vic	75	83.5/51.5	135	3.2	240	2017
Cape Bridgewater, Vic	29	69/41	110	2.05	59	2009
Cape Nelson south, Vic	22	69/41	110	2.05	44	2009
Cape Sir William Grant/ Cape Nelson north, Vic	23	80/46.5	126.5	2.05	47.2	2015
Challicum Hills, Vic	35	68/32	100	1.5	52.5	2003
Codrington, Vic	14	50/31	81	1.3	18.2	2001
Macarthur, Vic	140	85/56	141	3	420	2013
Mt Mercer, Vic	64	85/46.25	131.25	2	131	2014
Oaklands Hill, Vic	32	80/44	124	2.1	63	2012
Waubra, Vic	128	70–82	110–120	1.5	192	2009
Yambuk, Vic	20	70/36	106	1.5	30	2005
Total Victoria	582				1301
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Canunda	23	67/39	107	2	46	2005
Cathedral Rocks	32	60/40	100	2	66	2005
Clements Gap	27	79/47.5	126.5	2.1	56.7	2010
Hallett #1 Brown Hill Range	45	80/44	124	2.1	94.5	2008
Hallett #2 Hallett Hill (Bald Hill Range)	34	80/44	124	2.1	71.4	2009
Hallett #4 North Brown Hill	63	80/44	124	2.1	132.3	2011
Hallett #5 Bluff Range	25	80/44	124	2.1	52.5	2011
Hornsdale #1	32	92.5/55	147.5	3.2	100	2017
Hornsdale #2	32	92.5/55	147.5	3.2	100	2017
Hornsdale #3	35	92.5/55	147.5	3.2	109	2017
Lake Bonney, Stage 1	46	60/33	99	1.75	80.5	2005
Lake Bonney, Stage 2	53	80/45	125	3	159	2008
Lake Bonney, Stage3	13	80/45	125	3	39	2010
Snowtown #1	47	80/44	124	2.1	100.8	2008
Snowtown #2	10	80/49	129	3	30	2014
Snowtown #2	80	80/53	133	3	240	2014
Starfish Hill	22	68/32	100	1.5	33	2003
Waterloo #1	37	80/44	124	3	111	2010
Waterloo #2	6	80/44	124	3	18	2016
Wattle Point	55	68/41	109	1.65	90.8	2005
Total South Australia	665				1622

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