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    STORIES SHARED: Simon Tickner, pictured with his wife Susan Findlay on their Wallup property, will feature in a new film series about Australia’s shift to renewable energy.

AgLife: Spotlight on renewable energy

Wimmera grain grower Simon Tickner will feature in a new film series about Australia’s shift towards renewable energy.

Mr Tickner, who farms at Wallup, southwest of Warracknabeal, joins parents, community leaders and former councillors and coal workers to deliver his perspective about what regional Australia can gain from the energy shift.

For 50 years, the Tickners’ broadacre grain farming enterprise has operated under transmission lines and they have now added wind turbines to the mix.

Mr Tickner agreed to share his family’s story as preferred easement discussions are carried out with landholders in the eastern part of the Wimmera about new transmission infrastructure.
“Before the transmission lines went in, I remember my father being a bit unsure about the impact it would have on our farming operations,” he said.



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“But 50 years on, and we can tell you that transmission lines matched with renewable energy like wind towers have made our property worth more.

“It’s simple economics. You’re earning extra income off that plot of land, that makes the farm worth more.”

Produced by the New Joneses and hosted by Neighbours star Ryan Moloney, the film series ‘Good Neighbours’ follows Moloney as he hits the road to Horsham and the Latrobe Valley in Victoria, and Wollongong, Goulburn and Crookwell in New South Wales to learn about renewable energy and the regional communities it affects.

The stories have formed part of a submission to the Australian Senate’s Select Committee Inquiry on Energy Planning and Regulation, to articulate issues about communities benefitting from hosting large-scale renewable infrastructure; the possibility of communities owning renewables; pros and cons of living next to a wind farm; and what can be learned from farmers who have farmed with transmission lines.

The ‘Good Neighbours’ series can be watched for free at www.thenewjoneses.com.

The entire October 30, 2024 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!

The entire October, 30, 2024 edition of AgLife is available online. READ IT HERE!