Another energy hub inbound: how do readers feel about the green transition?

More than 80 renewable energy projects have been proposed in and around the New England Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) since it was announced in 2019, and just last week the proposed transmission lines connecting these projects to the grid was declared 'critical' for the state's energy security.

The newest energy project was announced just yesterday by Australian renewable energy developer ACE Power, proposing plans for a state-significant renewable energy 'hub' near Uralla.

The Hillview Energy Hub Project would be developed progressively, with the initial development of a 1000 megawatt battery energy storage system to be followed by a proposed 250 to 300MW solar farm and a 200 to 300 MW wind farm to be built later.

In May we asked our readers what they think about Australia's renewable energy transition playing out in our backyards.

Nearly 150 people responded to our survey. The headline results are summarised below:

Almost every survey respondent [99 per cent] said they are aware of at least one proposal for a renewable energy structure in their state or community.

The vast majority [88pc] also said they were either "interested" or "very interested" in Australia's energy transition.

More than 90pc of respondents say they agree climate change is happening, however nearly a third of those think it's caused by "natural fluctuation in Earth's temperatures".

A total of 62pc said they agreed with the overwhelming scientific consensus that humans were largely the cause of climate change.

Very few of our readers [7pc] rejected the existence of climate change outright.

While there's clearly a lot of interest in the energy transition, our readers' opinions are very diverse when it comes to taking action.

On a personal level, most respondents agree [29pc] or strongly agree [46pc] with purchasing solar panels for their homes.

There was also substantial support for shifting household electricity use to non-peak times of the day.

On the other hand our readers baulked at the idea of paying more for electricity or gas, risking energy blackouts, or allowing household energy supply to be remotely controlled by energy providers.

On a larger scale, most respondents said they supported the development of renewable energy infrastructure like solar farms, wind turbines, large batteries [15pc agree and 42pc strongly agree].

A large minority have firm feelings against nuclear power, with 41pc "strongly opposed" to small modular reactors and 46pc "strongly opposed" to large conventional reactors.

When it comes to renewables, the strongest support is for solar farms [13pc approve and 45pc strongly approve].

Next up comes utility-scale battery storage, followed by onshore and offshore wind.

The majority of respondents said the most important benefit from renewable energy projects was reduced greenhouse gas emissions, which beat cheaper electricity, local employment, attracting new businesses, and improved roads to take the top spot.

Relatively few people had strong opinions on green hydrogen or natural gas, which had the biggest percentage of "neutral" responses [38pc and 28pc respectively].

When asked how reliable media sources were for accurate information on renewable energy, very few respondents described any as "trustworthy".

Large minorities [more than 40pc] said they were neutral towards local publications, local TV news, and local radio.

Social and online media were labelled the biggest sources of misinformation with 78pc calling social media "not trustworthy" and 70pc saying the same for other online media like YouTube.

National radio took the title of most trustworthy with 16pc of respondents putting them in the "very trustworthy" category.

But it's not just media companies feeling the heat.

The majority of respondents also blamed governments and renewable energy developers for not providing enough information to communities.

When asked, 32pc said local, state, and federal governments had given "barely any" information and and additional 48pc said they had given "not enough".

A similar proportion of respondents said the same about energy developers [36pc "barely any" and 41pc "not enough"].

It is worth noting our survey respondents skewed middle-age or older, with more than half [62pc] being older than 55 and less than five per cent aged younger than 35.

There was a near-even split between male and female respondents.