Dual-use

The term ‘Dual-use’ refers to the ability for wind farm developers and private landowners to operate concurrently on the same land, in a way that provides mutual benefits and minimises negative impacts.

It is important that projects are designed to be dual-use over the entire lifecycle of a wind farm project, so that they can co-exist alongside other land uses from the planning phase of a project through to the eventual decommissioning and removal of any infrastructure.

Unlike traditional energy-generating infrastructure like coal power stations, wind turbines use a relatively small area of land. In many cases, landowners will find that a wind farm development on their land can be designed so that it doesn't significantly impact farm operations, as activities like cropping and grazing can occur between project infrastructure.

The Commercial Lease Agreement between a landowner and developer should identify any areas that are to be quarantined exclusively for the use of the wind farm project, while also specifying activities that the landowner proposed to continue to conduct on the remaining areas. This may include the right to continue to grow crops, raise stock, or otherwise use the land. The landowner should talk to the developer about existing operations and how energy infrastructure can be best integrated on the property across every stage of the project, including planning, construction, maintenance and decommissioning.