{"id":28316,"date":"2026-04-07T06:48:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T06:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/2026\/04\/07\/farming-sunshine-how-regional-communities-are-driving-australias-renewable-energy-revolution\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T06:48:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T06:48:00","slug":"farming-sunshine-how-regional-communities-are-driving-australias-renewable-energy-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/2026\/04\/07\/farming-sunshine-how-regional-communities-are-driving-australias-renewable-energy-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Farming sunshine: How regional communities are driving Australia&#8217;s renewable energy revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"youtubomatic-video-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"autoplay\" width=\"580\" height=\"380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Rsa5XS87GBs?controls=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>As fuel prices remain high and Australia pushes toward net zero, wind and solar farms are reshaping regional landscapes \u2014 but not everyone is on board.<\/p>\n<p>SBS World News reporter Alexandra Jones travels to Dubbo in New South Wales&#8217; Central West \u2014 the state&#8217;s first Renewable Energy Zone \u2014 to hear from the farmers, landowners, First Nations groups and community co-operatives on the frontline of Australia&#8217;s clean energy transition.<\/p>\n<p>From an agrisolar farm running under 64,000 solar panels, to a landmark community-owned solar project breaking ground in Orange, to a local Aboriginal Land Council securing a stake in a major battery project \u2014 the benefits are real. But so are the concerns, with some landowners reporting plummeting property values and calls for better community consultation growing louder.<\/p>\n<p>A NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Renewable Energy Zones has recommended mental health support for affected communities, while researchers say First Nations land holders could unlock up to 18 times more solar and 22 times more wind energy if outstanding land claims were resolved.<\/p>\n<p>Australia&#8217;s renewable energy transition is well underway \u2014 but who really wins?<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udd0e In this video:<br \/>00:00 Agrisolar farming in Dubbo and Orange, NSW<br \/>00:46 Australia&#8217;s Renewable Energy Zones explained<br \/>01:22 NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into REZs<br \/>02:35 First Nations equity in clean energy projects<br \/>03:52 The Yiray Clean Energy Park \u2014 Australia&#8217;s largest community co-owned solar farm<br \/>04:56 Community power cooperatives in regional Australia <br \/>05:34 Property value concerns for neighbouring landowners<\/p>\n<p>#RenewableEnergy #SolarFarm #Australia #CleanEnergy #NetZero #NSW<\/p>\n<p>SBS News is Australia&#8217;s trusted news source for the latest news from Australia and across the world.<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to the SBS News YouTube channel: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@<\/a>SBSNews<br \/>Follow SBS News on Instagram: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/sbsnews_au\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/sbsnews_au<\/a> <br \/>Follow SBS News on TikTok: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@<\/a>sbsnews_au<br \/>Follow SBS News on X: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.twitter.com\/SBSNews\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.twitter.com\/SBSNews<\/a><br \/>Follow SBS News on Facebook: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sbsnews\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sbsnews<\/a><br \/>Apple News: <a href=\"https:\/\/trib.al\/MTx0gUe\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/trib.al\/MTx0gUe<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For the latest news, visit www.sbs.com.au\/news<\/p>\n<p>Network Terms &#038; Conditions: <a href=\"https:\/\/sbs.com.au\/terms\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/sbs.com.au\/terms<\/a><br \/>Privacy Policy: <a href=\"https:\/\/sbs.com.au\/privacy\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/sbs.com.au\/privacy<\/a><br \/>Feedback or complaints: <a href=\"https:\/\/sbs.com.au\/complaints\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/sbs.com.au\/complaints<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As fuel prices remain high and Australia pushes toward net zero, wind and solar farms are reshaping regional landscapes \u2014 but not everyone is on board. SBS World News reporter Alexandra Jones travels to Dubbo in New South Wales&#8217; Central West \u2014 the state&#8217;s first Renewable Energy Zone \u2014 to hear from the farmers, landowners, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8553,"featured_media":28317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89340,89336,89332,89344,31745,89335,23251,68779,89337,89342,89343,89339,1676,1677,8503,89346,25103,89334,89333,89341,89345,47166,89338],"tags":[89325,89321,89317,89329,31734,89320,23235,68767,89322,89327,89328,89324,1655,1656,8495,89331,25095,89319,89318,89326,89330,47160,89323],"class_list":["post-28316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aboriginal-land-solar","category-agrisolar-australia","category-aljazeera-tv-news-english","category-australia-net-zero","category-bbc-news","category-central-west-orana-rez","category-clean-energy-transition","category-community-power","category-community-solar-farm","category-dubbo-solar","category-energyco-nsw","category-first-nations-clean-energy","category-latest-news-today","category-news-live","category-news-today","category-regional-australia-renewables","category-renewable-energy-australia","category-renewable-energy-zone","category-solar-farm-nsw","category-wellington-solar-hub","category-wind-solar-transition","category-world-news-today","category-yiray-clean-energy-park","tag-aboriginal-land-solar","tag-agrisolar-australia","tag-aljazeera-tv-news-english","tag-australia-net-zero","tag-bbc-news","tag-central-west-orana-rez","tag-clean-energy-transition","tag-community-power","tag-community-solar-farm","tag-dubbo-solar","tag-energyco-nsw","tag-first-nations-clean-energy","tag-latest-news-today","tag-news-live","tag-news-today","tag-regional-australia-renewables","tag-renewable-energy-australia","tag-renewable-energy-zone","tag-solar-farm-nsw","tag-wellington-solar-hub","tag-wind-solar-transition","tag-world-news-today","tag-yiray-clean-energy-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8553"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}