Gina Rinehart says renewable energy could use one-third of Australia’s prime agricultural land. Is she right?

Sheep graze under a wind turbine near Lake George, north-east of Canberra. Critics of the IPA report say it does not allow for the fact that grazing or cropping is commonplace under windfarms. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Wind and solar farms are popping up in renewable energy zones and designated development areas around Australia. Within those zones, it can feel as though new projects are everywhere: on your property or your neighbour’s, on the hills into town.

Fuelling this narrative is Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, who said at an event naming her as the Australian Financial Review’s 2024 business person of the year that one-third of Australia’s “prime agricultural land” could be “taken over” by renewable energy projects, particularly solar.