A grass fire at one of Australia’s largest solar farms, the 400 MW Wellington North Solar Farm between Wellington and Dubbo in the NSW Central West, during last weekend’s heatwave, has laid bare the depth of anti-renewables feeling in sections of regional Australia.
But it has also shone a light on the double standards of some renewable sceptic councils, councillors and Nationals MPs in the region that is home to the massive Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ). While they often fight against wind and solar farms, they strongly support the mining of critical minerals needed for renewables.