The Nari Nari Tribal Council in south western New South Wales is working with companies willing to partner with it to build a wind farm on Country.

This story is an excerpt from an interview with the ABC.

Five years ago, Nari Nari Tribal Council elders saw that there was an opportunity in harnessing the wind.

The Council went looking for an energy developer, but there was a key requirement in the deal.

Nari Nari man Jamie Woods is one of the Traditional Owners charged with managing its 88,000 hectare property.

"Aunties and Uncles made a decision many moons ago to say that any project, any outcome on our lands - we want to be a part of, we want to be a partner.

"We wanted equity and self-determination."

Nari Nari Tribal Council is partnering with Kilara Energy and Infrastructure Solutions and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners on plans for the Wilan wind farm.

If it goes ahead, the Council will claim rental income for hosting some of the 74 turbines, but importantly, has a seat on the steering committee, milestone payments, and the option to have equity in the project.

It's also negotiated a clause to ensure the project can't be on-sold to investors it doesn’t want to work with, such as companies that have damaged Aboriginal lands in the past.

"Our vision for us joining is to connect people and nature together,” says Jamie.

"This can help fast track some of the things we want to do. It puts destiny back into our hands. It makes us independent." 

Killara Energy CEO Andrew Thompson describes the project as a model for genuine First Nations engagement.

"Being able to become more active participants in the development of regional economic activity, economic development on their own Country, to be front and centre in that process. It’s about jobs. It's about being a meaningful part of the changes that are occurring in this energy transition."

Only 1% of renewable energy developments in Australia have Indigenous ownership, compared with 20% in Canada.

It's something the First Nations Clean Energy Network's Karrina Nolan would like to change.

“Not just to respond to proponents coming on to our Country and asking to put large scale projects on our lands or in our waters, but actually making sure that our communities and our Traditional Owners are also proponents ourselves, and running businesses."

The federal government's First Nations Clean Energy Strategy is expected to be released shortly.

Karrina Nolan believes countries such as Canada provide a good example for Australia.

"We've seen in Canada Indigenous banks and lending facilities established, which means that people can borrow money to buy equity, or there's projects that are incentivised for having an equity component in there.

"So there's a whole range of different initiatives that have kind of combined government reform and industry doing the right thing."

Listen to the ABC interview here

Read an ABC article about the project here

Read more about the Wilan wind farm here

Thanks for use of the photo in the article Greg Bigelow from ABC.