When the Flyers Creek Wind Farm was first mooted back in 2008 the iPhone was in its first iteration and the Lehman Brothers banking collapse had created the GFC acronym.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Kevin Rudd was the then Prime Minister when a group of landholders around Flyers Creek developed the idea of creating a wind farm on their land.
From its inception the project has been through many ups and downs and has seen seven Prime Ministers, including Kevin Rudd twice, pass through parliament.
The project was approved in 2014 but has been fraught with difficulties and delays including the withdrawal of three landholders in 2015.
In March 2022 Iberdrola Australia committed to building the Flyers Creek Wind Farm, a 145MW wind project that is expected to generate approximately 450 gigawatt hours of electricity per year.
MAP: Where is Flyers Creek?
Kim Masters was one of the early proponents of the wind farm and speaking at the sod turning ceremony he recalled the difficulties that beset the group when the wind farm was first mooted, but also drew attention to how much the energy market has changed in that time.
"From then to now we've had many ups and downs, obstacles to get past, protests, adverse comments, some of them personal, to get to this stage," he said.
The energy market has totally changed and, more and more, society is moving away from fossil fuel power generation to embrace renewables as their power source.
- Kim Masters
"The energy market has totally changed and, more and more, society is moving away from fossil fuel power generation to embrace renewables as their power source."
The wind farm will be spread across 17 different properties and one of those landholders Darryl Wilson said that at one stage he never thought it was going to happen.
"I've been a part of this since the word go and it's just been so drawn out," he said. "There's one up at Bodangora in Wellington which started well after this was thought of and has been up and running for a few years."
With excavators and graders now traversing the landscape Mr Wilson is cautiously optimistic that the process will be a smooth one.
"We still have to run our grazing operation and some people might go through a gate expecting the car behind to close the gate, but they may not see it, or not be there and we end up chasing stock down the road," he said.
"At this stage though we seem to be getting on well with everyone and cooperation is going really well."
As a grazier on somewhat hilly terrain, Mr Wilson also sees the benefits of having extra roads crossing his property.
"They have to get permission from us as to where to put roads in, but having a few extra roads will certainly make things easier for us," he said.
To read more stories, download the Central Western Daily news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.
HAVE YOUR SAY
- Send a letter to the editor using the form below ...