Article by James Willis, courtesy of the Daily Telegraph
03.08.2025
The former head of Australia’s wind farm watchdog has issued a “buyer beware” to farmers who agree to host Net Zero projects, warning it remains possible for them to be left with a clean-up bill if the private operator disappears or runs out of money.
It comes as the Minns Government refuses to introduce a mandatory rehabilitation bond on the state’s green energy pipeline, believing such a move would cost $1 billion.
Andrew Dyer, who served as both the National Wind Farm Commissioner and expanded Energy Infrastructure Commissioner between 2016 and 2024, has told The Daily Telegraph regional landowners “must be clear on who pays what” when they sign major contracts with private companies.
“It might cost you more to decommission the turbines left on your property than the revenue you earn over the next 25 years” Mr Dyer told this masthead.
He said the clauses and agreements between energy companies and landowners were “not consistent”, and a farmer could ultimately be “on the hook… or stuck with the problem if the operator defaults.”
Mr Dyer also said some regional property owners had been subjected to high-pressure, “sign now” sales tactics, meaning they may not have received “the best legal advice” before committing to lengthy financial lease deals.
He believed the Albanese Government’s new energy “developer rating scheme” would help weed out some of the industry’s dodgy operators.
Analysis of publicly available wind turbine decommissioning plans in NSW, most of them more than 10 years old, reveal a dramatic cost variance between projects and companies.
A report by the private operators of the Crookwell 3 project, not far from Goulburn, values the net cost of removing each turbine at just $6,650, once all large-scale scrap metal components are resold.
At Rye Park, the largest wind farm in the country near Yass, operators claim the decommissioning cost is “$45-50 million”, however the “sale value of recovered equipment and materials is around $55-60 million.”
In the New England Region, the owners of the White Rock Wind Farm have priced the cost of “de-installation” of the project at $8.46 million, but a footnote on the report assumes the materials will be sold and “scrapped” and therefore the “removal is cost neutral.”
According to the White Rock report, removing 70 turbines will require 32 workers, multiple cranes and the use of a support truck. Each turbine foundation, featuring 450 cubic metres of reinforced concrete, will be “covered with fill material that has been certified as clean.”
Upper House MP Rod Roberts has told this masthead that green energy projects should be dealt with under the same regulations as a new mine in NSW – where the mining company is “required by law to lodge a rehabilitation security bond before work begins.”
When approached for comment – NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully confirmed “decommissioning bonds were considered” however he believed the cost of renewable energy infrastructure “is largely borne at the start of the project, rather than at the end like a mine” and therefore it was determined agreements were “better dealt with at individual sites.”
“The cost of decommissioning renewable energy projects is minor and can often be recovered within just two years of operation” Mr Scully said.
In recent public advice – the State Government said mandatory bonds would cost green energy providers a total of $1.36 billion by 2030 and would ultimately “increase costs for the industry and energy consumers.”
Squadron, the company owned by Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest building dozens of green energy projects across the country, told this masthead it was “not the case that farmers will be left with a bill at the end of life of a wind farm. All wind projects must have a legally binding, fully funded decommissioning plan approved by state governments, so landholders are never left with the bill.”
Squadron also added that Queensland was now “requiring developers to lodge a bond” on a wind farm project and they were in favour of a “single national scheme, with funds secured in trust or an insurance model to guarantee decommissioning.”
