Fortescue Future Industries is scouting for port sites on the WA south coast after farmers embraced plans to build hundreds of wind turbines on their land as part of a plan to produce green hydrogen.
Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Future Industries is scouting for port sites on Western Australia’s south coast near Esperance after pitching plans to local farmers to turn the region into a majorThe green energy arm of Fortescue Metals Group has signed exclusivity agreements with some farmers, and other deals are sitting on kitchen tables as the company looks to gain access to enough freehold land to build hundreds of wind turbines.
“The short answer is we will almost certainly need a new facility somewhere along the coastline,” she said.“We’ve done a desktop review to identify some potential sites. That’s not a simple matter so now the real work begins of engaging with the local community and First Nations and finding a suitable location for that to happen.”
Esperance was home to Australia’s first wind farm and the local community has gained a reputation for embracing innovation since large-scale American investment opened up the land for agriculture.Esperance shire president Ian Mickel said Fortescue officials, including Dr Forrest who bought beers for farmers at Condingup Tavern, had been in town and out in satellite farming communities in recent months discussing plans and signing up landholders.
Mr Mickel, a retired farmer and former chairman of WA government-owned regional power supplier Horizon Power, said FFI was negotiating in good faith with the local community.“Our farming community sees positives in the work they are wanting to do as far as having an alternative energy source. It is a big agricultural area and people keep on questioning whether fossil fuels are going to be available to run their significant tractors, trucks and all the things that are used on farms,” he said.
“We are really out in the communities all around Esperance testing whether that appetite is there,” she said. Ms Schweizer said FFI’s plans for Esperance did not involve large scale solar arrays, given the quality of the farming land. She said there was likely to be a patchwork of farms over a vast area with well-spaced wind turbines.
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