Select Committee on Wind Turbines
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The Senate Select Committee on Wind Turbines Final report August 2015 Commonwealth of Australia 2015 ISBN 978-1-76010-260-9 Secretariat Ms Jeanette Radcliffe (Committee Secretary) Ms Jackie Morris (Acting Secretary) Dr Richard Grant (Principal Research Officer) Ms Kate Gauthier (Principal Research Officer) Ms Trish Carling (Senior Research Officer) Mr Tasman Larnach (Senior Research Officer) Dr Joshua Forkert (Senior Research Officer) Ms Carol Stewart (Administrative Officer) Ms Kimberley Balaga (Administrative Officer) Ms Sarah Batts (Administrative Officer) PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Phone: 02 6277 3241 Fax: 02 6277 5829 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.aph.gov.au/select_windturbines This document was produced by the Senate Select Wind Turbines Committee Secretariat and printed by the Senate Printing Unit, Parliament House, Canberra. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License. The details of this licence are available on the Creative Commons website: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/ ii MEMBERSHIP OF THE COMMITTEE 44th Parliament Members Senator John Madigan, Chair Victoria, IND Senator Bob Day AO, Deputy Chair South Australia, FFP Senator Chris Back Western Australia, LP Senator Matthew Canavan Queensland, NATS Senator David Leyonhjelm New South Wales, LDP Senator Anne Urquhart Tasmania, ALP Substitute members Senator Gavin Marshall Victoria, ALP for Senator Anne Urquhart (from 18 May to 18 May 2015) Participating members for this inquiry Senator Nick Xenophon South Australia, IND Senator the Hon Doug Cameron New South Wales, ALP iii iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Membership of the Committee ........................................................................ iii Tables and Figures ............................................................................................. xi Abbreviations .................................................................................................. xiii List of Recommendations ................................................................................. xv Chapter 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 The inquiry ............................................................................................................. 2 The interim report and its recommendations .......................................................... 2 The federal government's response ........................................................................ 3 The purpose of this report ....................................................................................... 4 The need for a broader mix of renewable energy sources ...................................... 4 Science and public policy ....................................................................................... 5 Improving compliance and the duty of care ........................................................... 5 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ 6 A note on procedure ............................................................................................... 7 Structure of this report ............................................................................................ 8 Chapter 2 The need for more evidence-based health advice on the impact of wind turbines on human health ...................................................................................... 11 Introduction and context ....................................................................................... 11 Structure of the chapter ........................................................................................ 12 Wind turbines and ill-health ................................................................................. 13 The views of the Australian Medical Association ................................................ 24 The role of the NHMRC and evidence-based health advice ................................ 27 The NHMRC's reviews ........................................................................................ 28 Submitters' views of the NHMRC ........................................................................ 34 Criticism of the 2015 NHMRC Review ............................................................... 40 Acousticians' views and the need for properly funded research .......................... 42 The committee's view on further research and the body to conduct it ................. 49 Chapter 3 Planning issues ........................................................................................................ 51 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 51 Implementation of planning processes ................................................................. 51 Capacity of local councils .................................................................................... 62 Consultation .......................................................................................................... 66 Improvements to planning processes ................................................................... 76 National wind farm guidelines ............................................................................. 78 Committee view .................................................................................................... 79 Chapter 4 The monitoring and compliance of windfarms .................................................... 81 Structure of the chapter ........................................................................................ 81 Current noise monitoring standards and the need to monitor infrasound ............ 82 The role of State Governments and local councils in monitoring wind farms ..... 88 The view of local Councils on current monitoring arrangements ........................ 89 State Governments' views on current monitoring arrangements .......................... 92 Residents' view of monitoring and compliance .................................................... 94 The view of wind companies on monitoring and compliance ............................. 99 The Clean Energy Regulator and its legislative requirements ........................... 100 The need to ensure independent and competent monitoring of wind farms ...... 104 The case for State EPAs to take over wind farm monitoring ............................. 109 A fee for service system ..................................................................................... 111 The case for greater transparency in monitoring and compliance...................... 111 The need for a wind farm Ombudsman .............................................................. 113 vi Committee view .................................................................................................. 115 Chapter 5 Fauna and aircraft ................................................................................................ 117 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 117 Fauna .................................................................................................................. 117 Aerial activities ................................................................................................... 128 Chapter 6 Committee view and recommendations on the issues raised in chapters 2–5........................................................................................................... 137 The Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Industrial Sound .................. 137 National Wind Farm Guidelines ......................................................................... 142 Enhancing the powers of the Clean Energy Regulator....................................... 143 Shifting responsibility to State Environment Protection Authorities ................. 144 A fee-for-service licencing system ..................................................................... 145 Oversight of the IESC and State Environment Protection Authorities .............. 147 The National Health and Medical Research Council ......................................... 148 The need for political cooperation and corporate endorsement ......................... 149 Chapter 7 The effect of wind power on retail electricity prices ......................................... 151 Structure of the chapter ...................................................................................... 151 Wind power in the renewables market ............................................................... 152 The impact of the RET on wholesale and retail electricity prices ..................... 159 The impact of wind energy on retail prices ........................................................ 165 The merit of the RET cross-subsidy ................................................................... 167 The Clean Energy Finance Corporation ............................................................. 175 Long-term Power Purchase Agreements ............................................................ 175 Committee view .................................................................................................. 177 Renewables and the Emissions Reduction Fund ................................................ 177 vii Committee view 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