Renewable energyis built on a paradox. To harness the power of wind, sun and water, all those good, natural things, we have to build a lot of stuff made of steel, glass, silicon and cement. The road to green goes through brown; to get clean energy, we must first get dirty.
Having cleared bush since 1788, we must clear more. The new-generationwind turbines can be 250 metres high, nearly twice the height of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The fibreglass and carbon fibre blades can be 85 metres long and must be transported in what are known as “oversize overmass” trucks with pilot vehicles at both ends. When the construction phase of the NSW rollout cranks up, probably next year, 10 such convoys could leave the Port of Newcastle every night.
Solar farms can be installed quickly, but trucks that transport turbines require upgrades to highways, local roads and bush tracks twisting lazily up green hills. Sites for temporary camps, with dongas housing thousands of workers, must be found. Quarries must be dug to produce more than 1000 tonnes of gravel for every turbine base. Giant, spidery cranes will lift and stack tower pieces weighing up to 50 tonnes before clipping in the blades. Then the turbines are ready to turn in unison “like a field of sunflowers”, as one company website puts it...
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