MEDIA RELEASE

1 April 2011

FINAL COMMUNITY WIND FARM FORUM TO BE HELD IN GLEN INNES

Glen Innes is the location for the final community wind farm forum in a series of six that have
traversed the New England Tablelands. It is the last opportunity for community members to
learn about New England Wind and have their say in an open-style forum.

“Community wind farms are different to the commercial wind farms in several key ways,” said
Adam Blakester, Coordinator for the New England Wind community initiative. “Being owned
and managed by the community keeps the benefits and control with locals. Their size is
matched to the community as well and much smaller than commercial developments. We're
investigating the viability of 4~6 turbines which would create enough power for 10,000 people,
or about 20% of the New England Tablelands.”

An online survey has also been set up for people to express their views, and nearly 500 people
have completed it to date. It is at: http://tinyurl.com/newenglandwindcommunitysurvey or can
be completed over the phone by calling 02 6775 2501.

“The main benefit of attending the Glen Innes community forum over the online survey is to
participate in the discussion, hear different views and ask questions,” added Blakester. “We'd
really like to encourage as many people to come and participate as possible.”

New England Wind is assessing whether there is sufficient support for a community wind farm in
the Tablelands. The study includes specialist legal, governance and policy research to look at
structures, business and investment models. Particular attention is being paid to Hepburn Wind
in Victoria, who are Australia's first community wind farm and began construction of their two-
turbine wind farm two weeks ago, after nearly six years of hard work.

“The findings from the Glen Innes and other community forums will directly shape the options
considered for the community wind farm,” continued Blakester, “including answering the
question whether there is sufficient support to proceed further or not. We describe this
community process as collaborative and participatory planning, where we are actually
designing the project together. This is very different to the traditional approach taken with
development where community is 'consulted' and nothing much changes at all.”

The New England Tablelands is a designated priority area for the development of wind power
and is one of six NSW Government 'Renewable Energy Precincts'. More than 1,000 commercial
wind turbines have already been approved and nearly 1,000 more are in the early stage of
planning processes.

New England Wind is led by local community organisation Starfish Enterprises with a consortium
of partners including The Community Mutual Group, Sustainable Living Armidale, Farming the
Sun, Embark, The University of New England, Environmental Defenders Office, Wilson & Co
Lawyers, High Country Urban Biodiversity Project, Southern New England Landcare and
Armidale & District Chamber of Commerce.

Full details of the New England Wind community wind farm initiative can be found at
www.starfishenterprises.net or by searching for New England Wind on FaceBook.

MEDIA CONTACT | ADAM BLAKESTER

02 6775 2501 | 0419 808 900 ‫ ׀‬adam@starfishenterprises.org
New England Wind is a community enterprise of www.starfishenterprises.net