“$40,000 per turbine per year”: Wind farms offer farmers security and stability
Lindsay Marriott said the turbines on his property have allowed him to increase productivity and upgrade old buildings.
Jacob Wallace
August 07, 2025
When an investment group approached Gippsland sheep and cattle farmer Lindsay Marriott in 2001 about plonking 12 stonking great wind turbines on his land, he says he kept an open mind.
Marriott has been farming since 1983. He knows well its inherently unpredictable nature, and how dry seasons and rains can disrupt and halt business.
The visitors were from Australian Renewables Income Fund, which focuses on developing large-scale renewable projects and saw an opportunity for a wind farm 10km south of Tarwin Lower.
They offered Marriott a consistent quarterly income from the turbines.
“It took me a couple of years to get my mind into gear on it being an assured income,” said Marriott. “Agriculture comes and goes, having that steady income is really an amazing thing.”
Cows grazing in the field next to wind turbines on Marriott’s property.
The Bald Hills Wind Farm commenced construction in August 2012 and began producing electricity in May 2015. The wind farm consists of 52 wind turbines spread across 1,750 hectares of farmland.
The company says the wind farm produces 380 GWh of electricity per year - enough to power 62,000 homes.
The wind farm industry pays farmers a standard rate per megawatt produced. According to Farmers for Climate Action, “typical payments being offered to farmers by wind companies are now more than $40,000 per turbine per year”.
A 2024 report from the group said “annual payments to landholders typically range from $5500-6500 per MW and modern turbines typically have 7MW of capacity”.
“The financial outcome has meant that our farms have increased productivity,” said Marriott, “[because] I've been able to significantly upgrade my farm infrastructure.”
Marriott said the extra income allowed him to subdivide paddocks, upgrade stockyards, put a roof over the shearing shed and employ more people. He said the roads constructed on his property by the wind turbine company made it easier to get around.
Lindsay said Bald Hills Wind Farm attracted opposition from a “driven small group of people” when first announced, but locals now considered it an “overwhelmingly a benign thing”.
He said “the animals take absolutely no notice of the turbines at any time and they are totally at ease with the maintenance people driving on the road”.
Sheep moving through the fields below the turbines.
In 2022 the Victorian Supreme Court ordered the company that operates the turbines to pay a total of $260,000 worth of damages to two neighbouring farms due to noise pollution.
The nearest turbine to Marriott’s house is 600 metres away and he says noise has not been an issue for him.
Not-for-profit RE-Alliance has just released an information booklet for farmers about hosting wind turbines on their property.
