Like the sun, wind is abundant, free and non-polluting – but Denmark has better wind resources than solar, so a windfarm makes more sense, technically and financially.

Wind power is the fastest-growing energy source in the world, increasing by 23.6% in 2010 alone. In Australia wind generation has risen by an average of 30% per year for the past decade. Denmark has a long record of innovation in caring for the natural environment, so this project is an opportunity for us to continue to lead the way, and encourage other communities in Australia to do the same.

Even the small windfarm we propose is a major business enterprise which will attract investment capital and boost the local economy, through employment opportunities and helping to fund other community projects. Climate change brought about by human activity is here, now, and we all have to deal with it, so a project which is environmentally, economically and socially sustainable, and produces no greenhouse gases, is responsible and very worthwhile.

 

A business owned and operated collectively by the people of Denmark has clear benefits for the local economy. Denmark currently spends about a million dollars each year on electricity – money which goes out of the community. With our own windfarm some of the money will stay here, benefiting our own families and businesses.

It’s ‘buying local’ on a grand scale. There will be environmental benefits too, such as preventing about 6000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and associated pollutants entering the atmosphere each year.

The wind turbines are large structures they will do a large job for our community:

• create up to three long-term part-time jobs, boosting local financial and technical skills
• make Denmark about 40% carbon-neutral for electricity
• employ local and regional contractors on up to 40% of the total project cost
• create a new tourism attraction, which will generate additional visitor spending
• increase community co-operation, through having a shared goal
• be a great educational tool for our youth
• improve the reliability of the local power supply
• create a local company which can sell its services and expertise to other communities
• remind people of our positive commitment to the environment and a sustainable future

 

• Being something new it is complicated, expensive, and breaking new ground in a number of areas
• the coastal location has caused some disharmony in the community
• technical difficulties connecting to the grid need to be overcome

 

Yes. However, as with the Albany windfarm, careful planning and design will minimise impact.

The service road will be located low in the landscape, out of sight; areas disturbed during construction will be carefully rehabilitated, using established techniques; thoughtful micro-siting of the turbines will ensure that they fit harmoniously into the natural contours of the land, minimising visibility.

 

There is no credible scientific or medical evidence that windfarms cause physical health problems, according to the National Health & Medical Research Council and a recent Senate Inquiry, among other studies.

Some people may be more sensitive to small environmental changes than others, but ultra-low frequency (ULF) emissions from modern turbines are so low as to be almost unmeasurable.

 

The project is a 1.6MW windfarm comprising two turbines, to supply about 40% of the electricity we currently use.

 

Originally, the government of the day approved up to four turbines. However, the limitations of the Western Power infrastructure at that time required the project to be downsized.

The infrastructure has since been upgraded, but how much the windfarm grows beyond the current size is ultimately a decision for the shareholders (owners) of the project, and whether they want to build extra generation capacity, to service population growth.

Of course, part of the project’s philosophy is to encourage people to reduce their energy requirements, through employing greater energy efficiency and conservation, including more appropriate home design.

 

We already do, on the rare occasions that Albany’s demand is less than its windfarm produces, which is currently about 70% of Albany’s requirements. Seven more turbines are being built at Grasmere, next to the current site, to supply the increasing demand.

 

No.

More than 70% of coastal land between Albany and Augusta (including the Denmark shire) is ‘out of bounds’, in national parks and nature reserves.

Neither are there useable infrastructure or population centres to justify more windfarms in other locations in this part of the world

 

How you define ‘impact’ depends on what you consider acceptable.

The turbines will be visible, to varying degrees, from various points in the landscape – but so are roads, powerlines, signs and buildings.

The lime quarry near the preferred site is also partially visible. Are these ‘impacts’? Are they acceptable?

Many people consider wind turbines elegant, graceful and majestic symbols of our move away from a reliance on fossil fuel. (See photomontages)

 

The noise detectable at the base of a modern turbine is roughly equivalent to a normal conversation. The Denmark windfarm will be more than 3km from the nearest homes.

 

Studies in Australia and elsewhere suggest that about 1.5 bird impacts per turbine per year are possible.

The world’s largest windfarm – 7000 turbines at Altamont Pass in California, which is located on a major bird migration path – records about 0.2 bird impacts per turbine per year.

Far more birds are killed each day by vehicles, cats, aircraft, other birds, weather and natural attrition; as well as stationary objects such as high voltage pylons, radio towers and tall buildings, than all the windfarms in Australia put together.

The windfarm is 11km west of a known migratory bird flightpath, and no bird species are known to nest or breed on Wilson Head.

Keep in mind that entire species are disappearing every day, through habitat loss caused by global warming – which is caused principally by fossil fuel emissions.

 

When the wind is blowing Denmark residents will get clean, green power from the windfarm, at no extra cost – ‘green’ power at ‘black’ power prices.

When the wind’s not blowing your electricity will probably come from coal. The windfarm will feed into the grid, so you will still be buying electricity from Synergy, at whatever rate you currently pay.

But if you have shares in the windfarm your annual dividend could be considered a ‘rebate’ on your electricity bill.

 

Yes, because its energy will be consumed first and foremost by local users; because its owners will include local investors; and, most importantly, because the windfarm is here, in Denmark and is being managed and operated by locals.

In addition, DCW Inc’s income from its shareholding will be used exclusively to fund a ‘community chest’, for local community projects.

 

WA’s south coast is a world-class wind-energy environment. The further inland you go, the more wind speeds are affected by physical features, such as hills and other constraints.

The state’s south coast is not comparable with Europe, or elsewhere in Australia: we have hundreds of kilometres of uninhabited coastline punctuated by small, isolated rural centres, limited access to the grid, and a population of about 70,000 in an area the size of Denmark in Scandinavia – which has a population of five million and generates more than 3000MW of power from wind.

In Europe the area proposed for our windfarm would contain many people, factories and large businesses, all demanding space and electricity.

The experience at Albany and elsewhere in Australia is that tourists are actually drawn to windfarms – Albany records more than 40,000 visitors per year.

Denmark’s windfarm site commands spectacular 180-degree views, which is likely to attract many more visitors than go there now.