“Scarlett my Dear, the land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for, because it’s the only thing that lasts”.
Unless of course your neighbour whacks up a bunch of giant fans – then you’re left fighting and dying for something that’s worth a whole lot less.
Here’s the Fin Review on what happens to Tara, when the fans go up next door.
Wind farms win few fans
The Australian Financial Review
Matthew Cranston
14 October 2013
Rural landholders across Australia may face a disappearing pool of buyers and plummeting values of up to 60 per cent because of neighbouring wind farms, a new, independent report has established.
Most reports so far, including valuation firm Preston Rowe Paterson’s on behalf of the NSW Valuer General, have not produced evidence that rural land holdings have been impaired by wind turbine development.
However, registered valuer Peter Reardon has compiled a 30-page dossier on the impacts of wind farms on adjoining or nearby rural farms.
“Discounts in value as identified of 33 per cent and 60 per cent in the market place cannot be ignored,” Mr Reardon said.
His detailed evidence included three properties, each with four or five comparative land sales.
Cullerin, an 80-hectare rural property west of Goulburn, adjoins Origin Energy’s 15-turbine wind farm. After being on the market for two years, it was sold last year at a 33 per cent discount to comparable farms that also sold within 12 months of the Cullerin sale.
A 120-hectare property outside Canberra which adjoined Infigen Energy’s 67-turbine wind farm sold in May this year for a 60 per cent discount to comparable farms also sold within 12 months.
A third property showed no adjustment in value.
‘No brainer’
Mr Reardon, was commissioned by a farmer worried about the future impact on his property. He said the impact on land values from wind farms was a “no brainer” and the real issue should be about compensation to neighbours from wind-farm operators.
“As an industry standard compensation has not being given at this stage. Until then the landholders will continue to be disadvantaged,” Mr Reardon said.
Many wind farm operators rejected the idea property values could be impaired by wind farms.
In renewable energy company Pacific Hydro’s submission to the NSW Draft Planning Guidelines for wind farms, the company asked for the removal of a reference to property values. It cited key examples of property values which had not been impaired by wind farms.
“Given the consistent base of evidence showing that wind farms do not affect prices in an identifiable trend, Pacific Hydro is highly concerned that property values have been included as a matter for consideration in the draft Guidelines.”
General Electric and AGL also want property values excluded from planning guidelines.
Paul Vallely, whose farms, Cladymore and Valhaven near Crookwell, face the prospect of a 100-turbine wind farm owned by Wind Prospect, commissioned the report. He said he was worried about his financial future, especially if property values were not considered in planning departments’ deliberations.
‘Our superannuation’
“Our land is our superannuation. We want to make sure the government does not approve the turbines because it would result in significant devaluation of our properties or even make them unsaleable,” he said.
“Word should get out that they do have a detriment on value.”
He said the problem was that the newness of wind-farm operations made it difficult to establish impacts on the value of farms.
“Something you can’t quantify is what is happening to the properties where there are no comparable sales – you have situations where people simply can’t sell the property,” Mr Vallely said.
“There hasn’t been much market evidence out there until now.”
The office of NSW Minister for Planning and Infrastructure was unavailable for comment.
Australian Financial Review
Don’t you just love the response from Pac Hydro, General Electric and AGL?
These boys and their stooges, the Clean Energy Council have been running a line for years now that giant fans have NO adverse impact on land values, so why the rush of nerves now?
True to form – when the FACTS get in the way – the wind weasel is very quick to shift the goal posts to make sure they are safely IGNORED.
Of course, the case they run is internally inconsistent – a bit like Vicki Pollard.
No but, yeah but, and fans don’t affect land values and you
can’t look at them values cos they’re stupid and all. So there.
****
If turbines DON’T impact on land values, then wind weasels and fan makers have nothing to worry about.
But conduct belies words almost every time.
Why move to exclude evidence of land values if there is NO impact?
Perhaps, these goons can take a leaf out of Vicki’s book of half-baked, lame excuses?
The report and press releases are available to download below:
Southern Tablelands – Impact of Wind Farm Development on Surrounding Rural Land Values 2013
About stopthesethings
STOP THESE THINGS 
We are winning the fight, and they realize that. Keep on exposing the windweasels for the true scammers that they really are! One day, just like many other terrible things we have lived through, this too shall pass….
Reblogged this on Mothers Against Wind Turbines and commented:
If wind turbines don’t affect property values……why would you have to disclose them when selling your property????? They are obviously lying!
This industry wants everyone to believe they are so clean and green nothing they do can cause a problem in any form.
If it’s not being believed they fight tooth and nail and will do anything to stop truth from being assessed and reported.
Even when the truth seeps out they do everything they can to scoop it up and push it back behind closed doors.
The problem for them is not everyone is so easily fooled, not everything can be scooped up and pushed back behind closed doors.
Once truth begins to seep out through leaking closed doors, it cannot be pushed back unless they replace/repair the doors.
What we want is for those doors to be thrown open and/or removed with a free flow of information spewing out.
Hopefully we can now see those rusting, creaking and leaking doors are ready to collapse from the weight of public pressure and the weight of truth desperate to be given the light of day.
I have no problem with the concept of clean and green, what I have a problem with is deceit, greed and lies. I have no problem with people wanting to save the environment we live and work in, but I do have a problem with those who will betray, mislead, con, hoodwink and dupe to fill their pockets.
This industry and its supporters are fighting a losing battle and know it, they cannot reinforce their doors, they cannot continue to pull the decaying drawbridge up, yes there are those they can call on to help, but even they will soon begin to fall back behind the lines to save their themselves from the onslaught of the weight of truth.
We know they have trapped the truth behind those doors for a long time, we know they have the proof their industry is not clean and green, we know they only want to fill their pockets at our expense and we know and are happy the truth is leaking out at ever alarming rates, and we know we WILL triumph.
Just like the wind industry denial of turbines emitting infrasound yet refusing to release any reliable independant acoustic data, or cooperating with full spectrum acoustic analysis. If they have nothing to hide, why the strenuous resistance nationally and internationally?
Why indeed! Their actions consistently betray their corrupt core with utmost clarity. The industry bankrolling of the Greens failed senate campaign another case in point, of an international industry blatantly seeking to buy political protection from Green ideologues with zero concern for rural neighbours driven from their homes. And in order to protect off shore interests.
Trouble is, the industry can only get away with the lying for so long, and they know it. At last more journalists worthy of their profession are picking up on the stench of corruption and deceit emanating from this global industry. Whilst there are some honest pollies and independant scientists, only a Police investigation and Royal Commission will resolve this systematic abuse of citizens by corporate giants pursuing huge profits ‘no matter what’.
Thanks for your ongoing acute analysis STT, it continues to hit the mark and expose the facts. As with asbestos and tobacco, truth and facts will win in the end.
Yeah but no, but yeah.
If the subsidised windies won’t buy you out to bulldoze your inconvenient, now uninhabitable home, your only hope may be a windies subsidised plant-buy. By that I mean a subsidised ideologue who, though he or she may visit on rare occasion, will never permanently live in your blighted former home.
Windies bulldozed (often obliterated) homes are becoming par for the course now in wind blighted regions of the US and Canada. Makes one wonder doesn’t it how these carpetbaggers can afford to do this? Maybe something to do with the “free” money flowing from the mandated subsidies these goules trouser as a result of their maleficence?
Rhett Butler understood why the land was worth fighting for, but sadly many of our modern day politicians have absolutely no idea.
Modern societies need on demand power – wind and solar are compromised here because of their intermittency in supply. Therefore they should not be on the grid.
Hydro is a proven renewable that can provide on-demand power, as can geothermal and even nuclear (although not in Australia), all with minimal CO2 emissions.
Because of the intermittency of wind, when connected to the grid, fossil fuelled electricity needs to be running all the time, in case the wind stops. Thus there is no CO2 abated.
Wind energy is a worthless sacrifice that we are no longer prepared to make. Wind must come off the grid. Established turbines could be used to help with pumped hydro – the water storage providing the kinetic energy needed to provide our society with on demand power.