The two hour blackout that cut power to 130,000 homes across North Canterbury, Nelson, Marlborough and Buller on Friday, highlights just how reliant New Zealand is on electricity - but just how safe is our supply. The government is trying to figure out how to keep the lights on while keeping the lid on rising power prices. At the heart of New Zealand electricity generation are the hydro lakes and dams, which produce 60% of our electricity needs. But low rainfall and recent dry spells have put pressure on the network and the heat on generation.

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND State-power company Genesis has pulled the plug on a small wind farm in south Auckland because of the soaring cost of wind turbines. But Meridian Energy says its Makara wind farm still looks promising. Developers of wind farms are reviewing the costs of their projects following hot United States and international demand for turbines, driving up the costs of the machinery.

The Australian Democrats have called on the federal government to get realistic about wind farm turbines and not give precedence to those who oppose them purely because they don't like the look of them. Democrats leader Lyn Allison said she was not surprised to hear there were angry views exchanged at a meeting of wind industry stakeholders on Monday.

A spokesman for the Coastal Guardians, Tim le Roy, says the code needs the State Government's support to make it work. "Unless the wind industry starts to conduct itself, and its members start to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner, the war that exists between rural communities and the wind industry in a number of cases, and if we don't get some standards and agreements on where these turbines can go, and the appropriate locations for them, this battle will not stop," he said.

With wind power, about 1000MW of turbines could be installed around Canterbury, most on wind farms of between 50MW and 150MW, but would "cause some controversy", as elsewhere in the country. "Due to the population density on the Canterbury Plains and along the coast, wind farms would need to be developed in more remote places inland," the report said.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand New Zealand's energy minister on Friday rejected an electricity company's call to consider introducing nuclear power, saying it is not yet feasible for the country and goes against the government's anti-nuclear policy.....He also said nuclear power was not yet as cost-effective a solution for New Zealand as other fuel sources such as wind turbines, hydroelectric and geothermal generation and high-efficiency coal.

New Zealand needs to seriously look at using a nuclear power plant to generate electricity with low greenhouse gas emissions, says a leading electricity company. "If the country at large does not get on board with nuclear technology, then when fusion reactors are available we will be so far behind the pace we won't have the research department ready to understand it," said Genesis chief executive Murray Jackson. Man-made nuclear fusion has been touted overseas as the cheap, safe, clean and almost limitless energy source of the future.

THE Federal Government has rejected charges its lack of support for renewable energy has led to the closure of a wind turbine components factory in Tasmania.

The Planning Minister, Rob Hulls, today gave the green light to building Australia's most powerful wind farm at Mt Gellibrand, near Colac

Electricity produced from renewable sources such as wind, hydro and wave power will be more expensive than electricity produced from Southland lignites, the Economic Development Ministry says in its Energy Outlook to 2030.

The Ministry of Economic Development has published a suite of reports on energy topics today. The reports are intended to inform New Zealand’s energy policy debate, including development of the New Zealand Energy Strategy. The reports are: New Zealand’s Energy Outlook to 2030; Emerging Supply-Side Energy Technologies; Heavy Industry Energy Demand; New Zealand Energy Indicators; New Zealand Energy Indicators - Supporting Information; New Zealand Energy Indicators - Scoping Report; Domain Plan for Energy Sector 2006 – 2016; and Energy Greenhouse Gas Emissions 1990-2005.

Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell is considering a national approach to deal with wind farm developments.

The Greens will campaign to stop the Bald Hills wind farm in the seat of Gippsland South in the lead-up to the Victorian election in November.

WHILE a stick-figure army of windmills is set to invade the landscape thanks to the State Government's new renewable energy policy, there is growing evidence that wind power will have little impact on the greenhouse crisis.

"I'm not against wind farms when the local community supports them but placing these giant turbines on prime coastal land and alongside an important wetland defies common sense," he said.

State-owned hydro and wind-power generator Meridian Energy is backing a Green Party bill designed to plug a gap in greenhouse gas controls caused by the scrapping of the carbon tax. In contrast, energy companies Contact, Vector and Origin and the exploration industry are opposing the bill which would return to regional councils powers Parliament removed in 2004 to take climate change into account when granting air discharge consents.

The federal Minister for the Environment says Australia's mandatory renewable energy targets will ensure wind farms are built, despite his decision to veto some developments to protect the orange-bellied parrot.

"The reality for us is that coal is going to need to contribute significantly to New Zealand's energy future over some years to come. The key is to increasingly find ways to burn it cleaner and more efficiently," she said.

A vocal opponent of wind farms in Gippsland in Victoria, Senator McGauran repeated his claim that wind farm proponents were fraudulent in their extravagant claims of economic and environmental benefits.

LIBERAL leader Ted Baillieu has taken aim at the wind-power industry, saying wind farms divide rural communities and pledging a moratorium on new wind farms in Victoria. Mr Baillieu also announced large tracts of the state would become no-go zones for wind farms under a Liberal government and he wants to give sole planning approval for the turbines to local councils.