Wind Storm

The tiny community of King Island off the north-west tip of Tasmania has voted to push ahead with plans for the country's biggest ever wind farm.

A community ballot has revealed 59 per cent support for Hydro Tasmania to conduct a multimillion-dollar feasibility study into a 200 turbine wind farm.

It's a decision that's been made against the backdrop of a dwindling population, fewer jobs and closing businesses.

The massive wind farm would generate about 2,400 gigawatt hours of electricity a year, to be sent across Bass Strait by a high voltage underwater cable to the national electricity market.

Hydro Tasmania says it could produce enough electricity to power a quarter of a million households, a huge chunk of the nation's renewable energy targets.

But as Fiona Breen found out, the issue has divided the community. Friends and even families are no longer talking.

FIONA BREEN, REPORTER: On a wintry Saturday, a sporting battle pitches mate against mate, colleague against colleague and even family against family.

For 1,500 King Islanders, the three-team footy competition stirs sporting passion. Today, it's Grassy versus North. It's a tough, close match.

Off the field, another battle has been simmering. Like football, passions have come to the surface.

VOX POP: I'm against. Don't want any wind farms here to - they're just ugly, horrible things.

VOX POP II: I think the wind farms are a great idea for the island, even if it just goes to feasibility.

VOX POP III: I don't want to look at wind towers really, but if it's going to help out the island, well, we need it.

FIONA BREEN: King Island is in the Roaring 40s. Its rugged coastline is a graveyard of shipwrecks driven ashore by the winds. Calm days are rare and the wind blows at an average speed of 32 kilometres per hour. It's that consistent wind that Hydro Tasmania wants to harness, using 200 turbines costing $2 billion. The company has spent six months taking the proposal to the local community.

ANDREW CATCHPOLE, HYDRO TASMANIA: We're taking a very different approach in coming to King Island to have this conversation before doing a feasibility study, a different approach to that taken previously and elsewhere for these kinds of projects.

That is very deliberate to try and understand, and I suppose to demonstrate, that not all wind farm developments are the same. They don't have to be the same. And so we hope you would see that as a sign of our commitment to continue to work with you to ensure that if this goes ahead that there is an optimum outcome for the community.

FIONA BREEN: The community ballot has now been counted and the result was tight. Nearly 59 per cent supported taking the 200 turbine wind farm proposal to the next stage, but there was only 10 or 11 votes in it.

Hydro Tasmania had always said it needed at least 60 per cent community support for it to go ahead. At an emergency board meeting this week, the company decided it was close enough.

ANDREW CATCHPOLE: Well certainly we're aware that there are different views in the community and we want to work with all sections of the community going forward about their concerns, as we've indicated. But we do feel that the survey result of 59 per cent is a very strong indication of community support to go forward to a feasibility study. More information about the program is available on the web site at www.scfwindturbine.com.