Addressing concerns about insurance

To assist the community, the experts from global insurance brokers WTW have helped The Pines Wind Farm to prepare responses to your most commonly asked questions.

The Pines Wind Farm, if it is approved, will always hold a comprehensive insurance package to cover damage caused to its property and any damage it might cause to others. The wind farm owners, financiers and host land owners (including Forestry Corporation) require these policies to be in place as normal course of business for an enterprise worth $100's of millions.

To obtain and maintain these policies for over 30 years at a reasonable cost, The Pines Wind Farm needs to carefully design, construct and operate the proposal to minimise risk to property and people. Comprehensive risk engineering is undertaken to identify, eliminate and/or mitigate potential sources of problems. The old saying 'an ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure' holds very true.

Nevertheless, natural catastrophes and human-caused events can happen. The Pines Wind Farm would manage these risks by having appropriate insurance coverage.

The risk of damage to a wind farm from a fire starting on a neighbouring property is very low, even when the wind farm is located within a pine plantation. We understand that this is a key concern of those living closest to the investigation area and as such, we have extended our neighbour benefit program to include an insurance provision that would protect neighbours in a situation where a fire started on their land. More information on this is outlined below.

As with any information of this nature, we encourage you to seek independent advice for your circumstances and to discuss this with your own insurer/broker.

Common Questions

I own a property/operate a business in/near Oberon, will The Pines Wind Farm affect my property or public liability insurance?

No. Insurance premiums are calculated via a variety of factors including claims history, business practices and cost of capital etc; we can see no reason why the presence of The Pines Wind Farm would introduce a relevant increase to risk to properties in the Oberon LGA.

I own a property/operate a business very close to the investigation area, will The Pines Wind Farm affect my property or public liability insurance?

No. WTW have found no evidence to support increases to insurance costs due to proximity to a wind farm. To ensure this does not become an issue in the future however we have extended our neighbour agreement to include an insurance provision. All neighbours within 3.5km of a wind turbine have the opportunity to enter into a Neighbour Benefit Agreement.

These agreements include:

• annual neighbour payments based on proximity to turbines
• coverage as an 'additional insured' under the project's insurance policy. This means a neighbour is covered if they accidentally cause damage to The Pines Wind Farm (e.g. by starting a fire), and
• free periodic fire safety assessments of their property

I am considering hosting project infrastructure or wind turbines on my property. Will The Pines Wind Farm affect my property or public liability insurance?

No. Hosting of infrastructure is managed by a lease agreement, The Pines Wind Farm lease agreements provide:

• annual lease payments
• coverage as an 'additional insured' under the project's insurance policy. This means a host is covered if they accidentally cause damage to The Pines Wind Farm (e.g. by starting a fire), and
• free periodic fire safety assessments of their property

If The Pines Wind Farm causes damage to my property, who will pay to fix it?

The Pines Wind Farm will always pay to repair any damages that is liable for.