Decarbonising Electricity - The costs of private sector-led renewable energy, and opportunities for alternatives

The solar plant pays rent to the landowners but displaces the rest of the population: ‘A village is not just for the big landowners. [...] The growing prevalence of household renewables in Australia, for instance, proportionately the largest in the world, undermines the profits of utility-scale generators. [...] From the 1990s renewable energy in Germany had a strong focus on cooperative and municipal wind-power initiatives, especially in the west of the country. [...] These measures coincided with a decline in applications, in part with the announcement of a 900-km interconnector to New South Wales due to be completed in 2025, which appeared to draw proposals to the west of the state. [...] The equity stake means that ‘not only are BDAC the landholders and landlords for the entire project, but we will also have a shareholding in the project, making us – the local First Nations People for the area – part- owners of one of the largest renewable energy plants in the State’.