NSW's largest windfarm highlights power of community investment | Simon Holmes à Court

The Sapphire Wind Farm in northern NSW has invited the locals to invest in it - the first such co-investment project in Australia

In the early days of windfarming, carpetbaggers almost ruined it for everyone.

Opportunists scoured regional Australia looking for prospective project sites. Farmers were pressured to sign up to leases and planning applications were rushed through. As soon as the permit was in hand, the developer would flip the project and start again.