Brisbane businesswoman demands answers on the real costs of wind power

By JANEEN VOSPER

I CAN’T believe people are still listening to climate change alarmists when the proof reflects the opposite. It is crazy to think that humanity has any effect on the climate. Then there are the significant number of people who believe that we need to stop using coal for our reliable power and use wind instead.

There are facts they need to know about the $29 billion spent of our money on subsidies, the $2.5 billion on grants, the $23 billion on the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (whatever that is) and $1 billion on certificates. And that is what they tell us.

The cost of ownership-estimated certificate payments are:

• Entirely foreign-owned wind farms $535.5 million

• Partly foreign-owned wind farms $153 million

• Entirely Australian-owned wind farms $350 million

• Total $1.0385 billion

Importantly, these calculations assume a 30% capacity factor across the largest 50 wind farms. What the??? – 30% and they get paid that much?

The countries that benefit include China, Denmark, Spain, France, United States and Italy – no mention of Australia or Australian workers.

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, w𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 and what 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲?

WIND ENERGY: ARE WE COUNTING THE FULL COST?

We are often told that wind turbines repay the energy used to manufacture them within 6–12 months. But is that really the whole story, particularly here in Australia?

To manufacture and install a single turbine requires enormous quantities of steel, concrete, copper, aluminium, rare earth materials, fibreglass and resin. Then consider everything else required:

• Foundations, access roads and heavy construction equipment.

• Substations, transmission towers and hundreds of kilometres of power lines to transport electricity from remote locations.

• Battery storage and supporting generation to manage periods when the wind isn’t blowing.

• Ongoing maintenance, replacement components and infrastructure upgrades.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞?

Turbines typically have an operating life of around 20–25 years. They must eventually be dismantled, transported and disposed of. While steel, copper and aluminium can be recycled, composite blades made from fibreglass and resin are much harder to recycle. Some are repurposed or processed, while others end up in landfill.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟.

What is the environmental cost of clearing vegetation, constructing access roads, installing foundations and running transmission lines through sensitive wildlife habitats? What happens to bird and bat populations, native vegetation, wildlife corridors and the land when the turbines are removed? Who pays for rehabilitation, and how do we ensure it is actually completed?

Energy payback calculations often focus on the turbine and its immediate construction. They don’t necessarily include the full energy and environmental costs of the supporting infrastructure, storage, decommissioning and land rehabilitation.

We should be measuring the complete lifecycle cost, not just the convenient part of the equation.

If we are going to call wind energy sustainable, shouldn’t we be looking at the entire process from mining the raw materials to restoring the land after the last turbine is removed?

I’d genuinely like to see a transparent, independent, whole-of-life assessment of an Australian wind farm that accounts for ALL these factors.

There have been some quite serious wind turbine failures in Australia, including fires that destroyed turbines, blades breaking off and towers collapsing during storms.

Interestingly, there is no single comprehensive Australian public register that records every turbine failure, fire, structural problem or period when a turbine is out of service.

We can however, identify several documented incidents of Australian wind turbine fires:

• Lake Bonney, SA 2006 – turbine fire

• Cathedral Rocks, SA 2009 – turbine fire

• Starfish Hill, SA 2010 – turbine fire

• Yambuk, Victoria 2023 – turbine caught fire

• Clements Gap, SA 2024 – turbine destroyed by fire

• Portland, Victoria 2024 – turbine fire; a blade fell off

• Bulgana, Victoria 2025 – fire destroyed the nacelle (engine housing) and a blade

The Clements Gap fire was particularly significant. The damage was estimated at $2.2 million and the fire spread to approximately 30 hectares of grassland.

There is more documented evidence than you might expect. The important thing is to distinguish between a turbine catching fire, a structural collapse, a blade failure and a turbine being temporarily shut down because of a fault.

The short answer is that Australia has experienced multiple fires, blade failures and structural collapses. However, there is no reliable national figure for the total number of turbines that have stopped working or required repairs.

Following is a count of identifiable reported incidents, not an official national total, and I think there are three particularly important issues worth investigating further.

1. Reliability: How many turbines are actually producing electricity at any given time, rather than simply being installed and counted as generating capacity?

2. Safety: What are the long-term failure rates for blades, gearboxes, generators and towers? Are these increasing as turbines become larger?

3. Environmental consequences: When a turbine catches fire or collapses, what happens to the surrounding land, wildlife and vegetation? Who pays for the clean-up and rehabilitation?

One particularly important issue is that wind turbines are designed to operate for approximately 20–25 years, yet we have examples of serious failures in turbines only two years old.

5. Where I would go next I would like to see Australia publish an annual wind turbine reliability report showing information required and why it matters

• Total turbines installed – establishes the population

• Turbines operational – measures actual availability

• Turbine fires – measures fire frequency

• Blade failures – measures component reliability

• Tower collapses – measures structural safety

• Gearbox and generator failures – measures maintenance burden

• Average downtime – measures lost electricity

• Repair and replacement costs – measures financial consequences

• Environmental damage – measures the wider impact

My biggest question is this: If Australia is investing billions of dollars in wind energy infrastructure, why isn’t there a publicly accessible national record showing how reliably these assets actually perform?

We should be able to examine the successes and failures, not just the amount of generating capacity installed.

I can understand why a struggling farmer might receive around $40,000 annually for hosting a modern turbine, while the wind farm’s gross electricity revenue could be hundreds of thousands or over a million dollars annually.

That difference is worth understanding when discussing who benefits financially from Australia’s wind industry.

And one question I would particularly like to see answered is:

Are wind farm developers required to put enough money aside at the beginning to guarantee that every turbine can be removed and the farmer’s land properly restored, even if the operating company goes broke?

And I think that is a perfectly reasonable question for Australian electricity consumers and taxpayers to ask.

* JANINE VOSPER, Owner-Operator at Speech Perfect and Director/Principal Trainer at We Are Women, Sales Support Specialist at Business Continuity Support group and Corporate trainer at Powertalk International, helps business owners to open communication lines, speak with influence and convert more sales.