NSW Farmers have backed a proposal to support more community owned microgrids to reduce energy costs.
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The motion passed NSW Farmers' Annual General Meeting (AGM) this week, progressing the organisation's agenda on renewable energy.
A microgrid is a small self contained energy grid that generates, stores, and distributes energy within a local area.
Usually, they are attached to the national power grid, but can function independently.
NSW Farmers Wagga branch president Alan Brown said microgrids would allow farmers to save money by controlling their own electricity supply.
"In the future, hopefully it'll reduce the cost of electricity because you'll have smaller communities getting together to generate their own power, store it in the microgrid and use it themselves," he said.
"That means you require less import of power from outside.
"In a future where grid power is getting more expensive all the time, it's a means of hopefully reducing the cost of energy, which would be a huge advantage."
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NSW Farmers have a mixed perspective on the future of power generation in Australia. The same AGM saw the organisation vote to lobby the state government for a moratorium on large scale solar farms.
Transition to renewables committee chair Reg Kidd said communities were having solar farms forced on them without adequate consultation.
"We need to have a debate on the best way forward," Mr Kidd said.
"Planners put things together and say, here it is. And then they engage with the community.
"They put what they have planned to the community and then say 'this is what we are going to do."
Renewable energy generation has been a sore point for many farmers. In 2022, fight in the Maxwell community erupted over one farmer's plans to install solar panels on his property.
Locals opposing the farm say it's an eyesore, and waste of prime agricultural land. Advocates argue the definition of "prime agricultural land" is too broad, and loses meaning when applied to anywhere crops can grow.
This raises the question of how rural microgrids would be powered.
While Mr Kidd has said Australia should reconsider nuclear power, Mr Brown would like to see more solar. He just thinks we need to be selective about where it's built.
"There's still strong opposition to putting solar panels on prime agricultural land because there's so little of it, but there's no opposition to putting renewable energy onto land that's less than prime - there's plenty of that about," he said.
"Power could come from a variety of sources from individual solar panels that people put on roofs, through to whatever sorts of renewable energy is appropriate for that area.
"There's a really good example of solar just west of Wagga towards Narrandera. I think there's about 500 hectares, built on low productivity land ... It's on level country so no one's impacted visually, the impact on agriculture is minor because it's low productivity land, and good on them - there should be more of it."
The NSW Farmers Association annual conference, held at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse, wrapped up on Thursday. It included the AGM, and new board elections.
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