For sunny, land-rich regions like ours, which have been hit by years of drought, the development of large-scale wind and solar projects can breathe new life and economic activity into local towns, provide an important secondary income for farmers, and reduce greenhouse gases, which worsen climate change.

Despite these benefits, some concerns from local communities have been raised-let's address those first.

Some people, for instance, are concerned about prime agricultural land being converted to solar farms. But with mapping tools such as Sharing and Enabling Environmental Data (SEED), communities and governments can identify prime agricultural land based on soil and infrastructure data. This information can then be factored in when considering the placement of large scale solar farms.

More importantly, the beauty of renewable energy is that it can co-exist with agriculture, unlike coal or gas. 'Agrivoltaics', for instance, is a growing global trend that combines cropping and solar panels.

Overseas research has found that soil moisture tends to be higher under solar panels than on exposed land, and even that crops like tomatoes have higher yields when grown under solar panels, compared to open land.

Another benefit is that crops grown under the panels can also improve panel efficiency by reducing their temperature through the crop's transpiration, setting up a positive cycle of higher agricultural and energy productivity.

Countries like Japan, Austria and the US already successfully use agrivoltaics, and it's very likely that a region like Central West NSW, with our hot and dry conditions, will benefit from this practice too.

Farmers can also continue to graze their sheep on solar farms. In Dubbo, if you drive past Neoen's solar farm, you'll see sheep happily roaming around the solar panels and snoozing in their shade. This practice also helps with weed management and keeps the grass down in a cost efficient manner.

Another often-cited concern about solar farms is increased fire risk. Those worried about this should rest assured that no solar farm gets approved without factoring this into their Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Management Plan, and presenting adequate fire risk mitigation measures.

Beyond these readily addressed concerns, the opportunities that renewable energy poses for regional Australia are incredible.

My own experience on my farm an hour west of Dubbo points to huge reductions in costs, and climate pollution. We installed the country's largest solar diesel irrigation pump in 2018, and have saved $170,000 a year in diesel costs as a result-not to mention cutting 500 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year.

Many other farmers also recognize the benefits large scale solar and wind farms can present-not just the extra income for the people who host the turbines and panels, but for the surrounding community too.

There are several types of shared benefits that communities and farmers can negotiate with renewable energy companies and governments. For example, some wind or solar farms start a community fund that could help with upgrading or building public amenities such as pools.

Other models are proximity based, where neighbouring farms receive an income, based on impact or distance from the development. It's important for communities and potential host farmers to be informed of these models and opportunities early in the engagement process as this may help with community acceptance of these large developments.

In fact, if some portion of large scale projects like the Dubbo REZ allocate a portion of assets as community energy, locals can even buy into the benefits of renewables and the income derived from these community owned assets, while keeping money in the local economy.

Lastly, farmers and locals in regional communities who have been hard-hit by the impacts of the drought are amongst the biggest beneficiaries from renewable energy solutions that reduce costs and tackle climate change.

All up, large scale renewable energy projects like the Dubbo REZ are the win-win-win solutions that regional Australia needs to continue thriving in the long term. Central West NSW is in for an exciting few months ahead as the project takes shape, the future is looking bright for us.

Karin Stark

Narromine

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