Coalition's nuclear option threatens farmers' renewable income stream dream

Just ask Charlie Prell.

The renewables pioneer and recently-retired sheep farmer from Crookwell, in NSW's Southern Tablelands, was on the breadline during the Millennium Drought before putting Gundowringa, which had been in the his famliy's hands since 1904, on the market in 2005 for about $1000 an acre.

When he received no offers he agreed to host renewables.

"The basic incentive for me, apart from climate, was to have this passive income stream. It wasn't dependent on the environment, it was coming in every day," he said.

"And that saved our bacon we were pretty much bankrupt, not quite, but we were under huge financial stress."

Twenty years later and Mr Prell and his sisters sold the property for about $3500 an acre earlier this year, the cheque handed over above the $11 million to $12m price guide.

Farmers generally have two businesses - making money from the land through production and the increasing capital gains on the farmland.

Mr Prell said potential buyers were attracted to the 13 wind turbines and a substation on the property. A 30-year lease agreement means the new owners are guaranteed $226,800 per year indexed at Sydney CPI.

He said renewables allowed him the opportunity to increase the quality of the capital infrastructure over time, including fencing, buildings and shearing and hay sheds.

"After we took on the turbines we became a really viable, successful farm, employing 10 people. You hear that story all the time from people who actually host renewables," he said.

Typical payments being offered to farmers by wind companies currently around $49,000 per seven megawatt turbine per year.

Property owners are increasingly using renewables as a selling point, such as the "additional income from wind turbines" being offered with this Ballarat property.

The Opposition last week unveiled the potential sites of seven nuclear power plants as part of its high-risk, high-cost political and economic gamble it will take to the forthcoming federal election. It has also said renewables will be part of its planning but with rooftop solar the headline act.

Mr Prell believes the Coalition's nuclear option, which has already placed a handbrake on renewable investment, could rob family farmers of the opportunity to sustain their businesses through the lean times caused by drought, flooding rain and frost that can crank up a farmer's operating costs and hammer bottom lines.

One farmer told ACM-Agri, on condition of anonymity, that he was against renewables "ripping up farmland" and, while he believed them far from du jour, he also signed up to host wind turbines on his farm.

"I will be looking at them anyway on the neighbour's farm," he said. "Or around the area with different projects, if it is going to happen anyway, and it may not happen and if it doesn't I wont be unhappy, it made sense to get involved," he said.

As a former chair of Farmers for Climate Action, Mr Prell, whose experience opened the door to activism, has also been able to take a helicopter view of the situation.

"The reality is that most of the resistance to renewables happens before the structures are built, then once they are built it dissipates by 90 per cent. And the level of resistance overall to renewables has decreased dramatically over time," he said.

However, he also believes that a significant issue has been the own goal of Australia's renewables programming so far being "abysmal".

"If you had to roll out renewables as badly as you possibly could, in relation to solving the community angst and controversy, you couldn't have done it any worse than the way we have done it in Australia," he said.

"Local governments just walked away from it, it was too hard for them. It was too hard for the state governments except for some political opportunism and South Australia, and the ACT."

Meanwhile, some local Councils are now increasing rates for the small on-farm plots hosting renewables, rates vary per farm and landholders normally receive two rates notices with the energy company reimbursing the landholder.