Renewable energy and agriculture are two of Australia's most important sectors - one will power the country in the future and the other will feed it.
But the two are often locked in debate over land use.
Earlier this month, the NSW government launched a review into the "issues and opportunities arising from the growth of the agricultural and renewable energy sectors".
Farmers, Rick and Pam Martin, are neighbouring landholders of the proposed 160-megawatt Mates Gully solar farm and battery energy storage near Wagga Wagga.
They've called for all solar developments to be put on hold until the government review is completed later this year.
The Martins argue renewable energy should be developed in marginal country, not the productive land they live on - citing food security and the environment as their main concerns.
Rick and Pam Martin are concerned the proposed Mates Gully solar farm will negatively impact the area's high water table. (ABC Riverina: Olivia Calver)
“You don’t destroy food production and the environment to save the planet," Mrs Martin said.
“We have so much land out there where these can go."
The Martins are also worried about run-off from the solar panels because the area has a high water table, which can lead to salinity issues in the soil.
“We’ve planted 60,000 trees on our property to alleviate these high groundwater tables.
"Just to be able to put a solar factory in this area now and impact so much of the work we’ve done over the last 30 years, it’s very poor site selection.”
In a statement, NSW Agricultural Minister Dugald Saunders said the purpose of the review was not to stop the growth of renewable energy, but to consider current policy and how that impacts the agricultural sector.
"It’s critical we find the right balance to ensure the agriculture sector can continue to boom, whilst maintaining our commitment to be carbon neutral by 2050," Mr Saunders said.
Proximity a key consideration
Some of the state's more arid regions have been targeted as Renewable Energy Zones by the state government, including in the western Riverina.
But there are still plenty of examples of renewable energy companies developing solar and wind farms on highly productive land.
Spark Renewable is the company developing the Mates Gully Solar Farm and head of development Will Stone said proximity to transmission lines was one of their key considerations.
“One of the issues you have with going further west is you have to build new transmission lines to get the power from out west to the load centres, and you get electrical losses along the transmission lines," Mr Stone said.
“The beauty of Mates Gully is it takes advantage of the existing capacity [with two] existing transmission lines that cross the property.”
He said site selection also considered ecological impacts, vegetation, land use, surrounding dwellings, flood risk, heritage and access to the site.
Spark Renewables will undertake both an environmental and an agricultural impact statement for the Mates Gully project, and plan to integrate sheep grazing and tree planting amongst the solar panels, where possible.
Mr Stone said consultation on the project was under way, with construction planned to begin in 2024.
Social licence could be at risk
Macquarie University lecturer and Climate Council councillor Madeline Taylor said the growth of renewable energy is crucial, but if landholder concerns were not considered, the sector’s social licence would be at risk.
“There needs to be clarity and certainty for communities to ensure that renewables continue to hold their social licence to operate," Dr Taylor said.
“We need to do it in a way that’s equitable, sustainable and shows co-location and not a conflict of land uses.”
Dr Taylor said to achieve this there needed to be thorough consultation with nearby landholders, mandatory agricultural impact statements and more farmer-led discussion on co-location of renewable energy and agriculture.
“We need to have a very swift transition to renewable energy … but we also can’t negatively impact on farming land and our food security.”
SOURCE: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-23/solar-farms-conflict-with-agricutural-land-use-/100920184