Australian-based wind farm, Hepburn Wind, has a unique way of drumming up support for renewable energy. Probably finding inspiration from the lyrics of Windmills of Your Mind, or maybe not, they are raising at least AU$10,000 in funds to promote wind power. The funds raised will go to the painting of their second wind turbine, the filming of the process, and the holding of an event called “Sleep Under the Stars”.
The wind farm located at Leonards Hill, 10 km (6.25 mi) south of Daylesford in Victoria, is community owned. It has two REpower MM82 wind turbines with a combined nameplate capacity of 4.1MW. It can generate 12,200 MW-hr each year, enough to power 2,300 homes. This is more than enough to power all homes in Daylesford.
The community is very engaged in the project, in fact, they have named the turbines Gale and Gusto. They have held a number of events to celebrate project milestones from the groundbreaking, turbine raising, launch and most recently, the painting of one of the turbines.
“Gale” was painted in 2013 by Melbourne based street artist Ghostpatrol in the presence of 350 people. The mural attracted international media attention, prompting a community in Scotland to follow suit.
With the funds that the community is raising, they hope to have “Gusto” painted, again by Ghostpatrol. With AU$7,750, they will be able to have the turbine painted. An additional AU$2,500 will allow them to document the process and produce a video of the mural, as well as the “Sleep Under the Stars” event. With additional funds, they hope to make the event a memorable one and to improve the mural.
For more information, visit the fundraising page and paint the town, I mean the windmill, err, with a mural.
