The small-scale project went before Orange City Council on Thursday night, when councillors decided it should not proceed.

The vote was unanimous with little dissent from councillors.

Under the proposal, as many as 10 wind turbines would surround the city’s stormwater harvesting dam between the Narrambla Industrial Estate and Charles Sturt University.

The 18-metre turbines would have had the potential to produce around 120 megawatt hours annually, enough to power around 20 homes a year.

If approved the project would have made Orange’s stormwater harvesting scheme carbon neutral and offset carbon emissions from the city’s aquatic centre by around a fifth.

The money that was set aside for the project will now go into a seed fund.

Orange mayor John Davis says the seed fund will be used for other projects in a similar vein to the wind farm.

“The money didn’t go back into treasury for other projects but will be used for other like projects,” he said.

Cr Davis said that did not mean council would go overboard, but would look for sensible and achievable projects.

“I think there is a commitment and feeling that councils and local government have to lead the way to a certain extent,” he said.