'The damage is done': Kentucky community loses renewable energy fight

But now, he faces down the prospect of having one as a neighbour.

The approved Thunderbolt Wind Farm is set to be built between Bendemeer and Kentucky.

"We were running away from the wind farms," he said.

"We moved up from down the Southern Tablelands; it was good country, but there were a lot of wind farms going in down there."

After years of helping the community fight against the construction of the 32-turbine project, Mr Johnston was "gutted" when news came through about the project's approval.

"They don't know what is ahead of them and by the time they find out it will be to late," he said.

The Kentucky community has been fighting the now-approved Thunderbolt Wind Farm for five years.

The independent planning panel approved the renewable energy project, by French renewable energy company Neoen, under certain conditions.

These include planting trees/shrubs to reduce visual impact for residents, upgrades to the roads, minimising disturbances to the area's biodiversity, and decommissioning the site at the end of the project's life.

Mr Johnston and his wife have lived on their 607 hectare property for the last 19 and a half years.

They breed superfine Merino sheep.

He initially found out about the project in early 2020, not from the company, but from a friend who lived on the opposite side of the highway.

"I got a phone call one weekend, just after the drought broke," he said.

"He asked, 'Are you and Cath going to the anti-wind farm meeting about the proposed windfarm?'"

"My response was, 'What windfarm?' We got no notice and we had no idea what was happening."

Mr Johnston's main concerns around the wind farm include the impact it will have on native animal habitats and the ability to fight bushfires.

"It took us ten years to get permission to thin country on our property. This is koala habitat," he said.

"The first Koala seen on our property after the drought was 100 metres from our boundary, and it is 200 metres from a proposed wind tower site."

Mr Johnston said the low frequency sound emitted from the turbines will impact koala mating.

"It interferes with the communication between the koalas. Even outside of mating, these bears still communicate," he said.

"They are up and they are going to smash up the land."

Residents have also raised concern about how the turbines will impact endangered bird populations, such as the Little Eagle.

An experienced volunteer firefighter, Mr Johnston said the wind farm placement will impact access to isolated land if a major bushfire breaks out.

"The aerial application association of Australia, which is your super planes, spraying planes, and the air tractors who do the fire fighting, say they will not fly within three metres of a wind turbine," he said.

"You need to know if s*** hits the fan; you know that there is a possibility that there will be aircraft in that will help you.

"I have said it to the planning department, the environmental people, the Neoen people, and the commissioner: if they take aerial support away from me, you come help and fight the fires."

Kentucky has been left fragmented by the renewable energy project.

Mr Johnston said the community is split, and even if the whole project went away, the damage has already been done.

"There is three sides to it," he said.

"There are those for it, those against it, or others who don't care, don't know, or haven't thought about it.

"That split is going to stay there. Not far from here, there is a big powerline that went in about 30 years ago, and there are still neighbours who will not fight fires on each other's properties."

Mr Johnston said the cost of renewable energy is smashing communities, the bush and endangered species.

Uralla Shire Council major Robert Bell said despite council's initial objections to the project, he feels they have fought to "benefit the community".

"We have tried to maximise the community benefit," he said.

"There have been little wins, such as the compensations for the powerlines. My personal view is that the state and federal governments should be pouring money into these communities."

Cr Bell said Uralla council is not standing in the way of development, but he wants to make it really clear what the community's expectations are.

Emily Walker, a Neoen spokesperson said they look forward to delivering positive outcomes to the local economy and community.

"We are excited to have received development approval for our Thunderbolt Wind Farm. The project is ideally located next to an existing 330kv transmission line in NSW's New England Renewable Energy Zone," she said.

"We would like to thank our host landowners, Tamworth Regional Council, Uralla Shire Council and the communities of Kentucky and Uralla for their continued support."