Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has defended selling off state-owned wind farms, saying the sale has delivered the country's biggest climate change fund. Ms Bligh on Thursday announced the government had sold off its wind farm assets, spread across Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria, to Transfield Services Infrastructure Limited for $460.4 million. Proceeds will go to Queensland's climate change fund, established to provide an ongoing funding source for climate change initiatives. But the decision on Friday was met with criticism by the Queensland Sustainable Energy Industry Development Group.

Public submissions on the proposed Waverley wind turbine farm are overwhelmingly opposed to the project, mainly on the grounds of turbine height, noise, vibration and the effect on the coastal landscape. But there are some heavyweights among submitters who want the $300 million development to proceed, and they include the Ministry of Economic Development, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, the NZ Wind Energy Association and the Sustainable Whanganui Action Group. ...The key submission is from the strongest opponent, Roger Dickie, who is prepared use his cheque book to stop the windfarm because he says it will devalue his partially consented residential subdivision nearby.

In April last year the future of wind energy in Australia was in doubt after the Coalition Government blocked a Victorian wind farm project to protect the endangered orange-bellied parrot, a bird so rare it appeared never to have flown near the site. The decision to overturn state approval for the project ostensibly on environmental grounds sparked outrage from green groups ...Things look very different 18 months later. The two main parties are locked in a battle to prove their green credentials. Opinion polls show voters respond enthusiastically to renewable energy, and to wind and solar power in particular. Ever conscious of the public mood, the Prime Minister, John Howard, in September announced a 15 per cent "clean energy target". That was pipped this week by the 20 per cent target announced by the Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd.

Groups opposed to plans for the country's biggest wind farm say they will take their case to the Environment Court. The 176-turbine project near Ranfurly in Central Otago was granted resource consent on Wednesday. ...While four of the commissioners accepted the argument that Lammermoor Range is not an outstanding natural landscape, one, John Mathews, disagreed. Opposition groups say that gives them strong grounds to take the case to the Environment Court.

The Government's attempt to wean the country from fossil fuels, part of its strategy to cut greenhouse gasses, will change the landscape in more ways than just putting legions of wind turbines on the horizon. ...Opponents to the Government's strategy say it is draconian, will lead to higher power prices, lower investment, and endanger security of supply. Increasing the energy generated from renewable sources by over a quarter, to 90 per cent, also raises the spectre of more bitter battles with communities already up in arms over the prospect of wind farms at close quarters.

The Government expects wind and other renewables to replace coal and gas fired power plants, but the association said that was risky. "To place such a high reliance on renewables is a very risky strategy and significantly increases the risk of the lights going out in dry years," Mr Pfahlert said. In dry years, gas and coal fired stations produced about a third of all electricity. "Four years ago we had blackouts when we were 65 per cent reliant on renewables," he said.

Contact Energy today announced plans to build a giant wind farm on a Port Waikato site, which could be as large as 650MW if fully developed. ...Contact has also announced it wants to build a 100 MW gas plant in neighbouring Strathmore, to help even out the variable electricity supply from the proposed wind turbines.

The government might decree all new electricity generation be renewable and not thermal, but the new boss at NZ Oil & Gas (NZOG) is gearing up his company to find more gas to fire thermal power stations. He has hired five top geo-scientists and a commercial manager from overseas as the core of a new 17-strong development team for the New Zealand-listed oil explorer. "Sure, the new emphasis on renewables could cast a cloud on our activities, but there will still be times when the lakes aren't full and wind turbines stop turning," he said.

The government's new plans to get power from sustainable sources are being slammed by some business leaders. The government says it wants "wind and water power" rather than coal and gas energy but the business leaders say it is not necessarily the cheaper option. ... "Sometimes frankly it doesn't rain and the wind doesn't blow and if that's going to be the case what are going to do to keep the lights on come 2025," O'Reilly says. And despite the government's claims renewable energy will be cheaper for all of us in the long term, the cost of a carbon emissions trading scheme alone is likely to increase power bills and there's no hard evidence windfarms can combat that.

The Government has rejected claims its energy strategy will place New Zealand's electricity supply in danger in the future. The strategy released on Thursday reaffirms the Government's faith in the ability of renewable generation to meet 90 percent of the country's energy needs by 2025. ...Energy industry consultant, Brian Lealand, told Radio New Zealand the policy was "crazy intervention." He says the push for electric cars and electricity efficiency will see electricity demand rise by up to 4,000 MW and push household electricity prices up by $500 per year.

Under a new long-term energy policy drawn by the Government Thursday, state-owned Genesis Energy' will have to scrap plans for a $500 million gas turbine plant near Auckland. ...The energy plan prohibits the construction of new coal, gas, or diesel plant in the next 10 years. The ban covers only state-owned power firms, but the Ministry is considering extending it to the private sector. The Energy Ministry imposed the decade ban Thursday, at the same time allotting $2 billion for development of renewable energy projects.

AUSTRALIA will lead the world with the launch today of a wind farm accreditation scheme designed to include documented consultation with the community. The scheme, created by the Clean Energy Council, will involve an independent audit to ensure that any proposed wind farm complies with industry guidelines. The Clean Energy Council's chief executive, Dominique La Fontaine, who will announce the scheme at the annual AusWind conference, said it would give the community added confidence in proposed wind farm projects. "Transparent and documented community consultation helps build trust and ongoing local relationships," she said.

Energy Users Association chief executive Roman Domanski said the least costly gas cuts came from energy efficiency rather than emissions reductions achieved through technologies such as wind power. "As more of these wind farms get built you create more problems with local communities, but you also create other problems because the most economic sites get used first and as you build more and more you move more into the sites that are less economic," he said.

A leaked planning report recommending a controversial Victorian wind farm proceed was not worth releasing because the project was dumped, Planning Minister Justin Madden said. The 48-turbine Dollar Wind Farm, proposed for a site in south-east Victoria, was scrapped last month when the proponent AGL Energy Limited pulled out. Opponents of the $140 million project were fighting for access to a planning panel's report into whether the project should proceed.

Opponents of a controversial wind farm planned near Wellington are going back to court, claiming new evidence could limit the hours the project is allowed to run. Makara Guardians have asked both the High Court and the Environment Court to consider hearing submissions about the noise expected to come from Meridian Energy's West Wind project near Makara. ... Makara Guardians lawyer Graham Taylor said the group was not appealing against the project in full, but wanted to bring new evidence before the court about conditions relating to wind noise.

The federal Member for McMillan, Russell Broadbent, welcomed the decision to scrap the wind farm. The Federal Government also tried to block a wind farm project at Bald Hills, because of concerns over a rare parrot. Mr Broadbent says he does not oppose wind farms but they should not be built in South Gippsland. "We should not ever put wind farms in places where communities have had a say about not wanting them in that pristine location in Victoria," he said. "Renewable energy's fine but it has to be put in places that do not damage the area for ever."

Dr Williams argues that those calling for carbon-emission cuts of 25 per cent by 2030 do not understand what it would cost. "We would need an extra 4500 two-megawatt wind turbines, 20 biomass generators, 30 new gas-fired base-load power stations and 12 best-of-breed coal-fired plants," she says. "It would require $60 billion in new infrastructure costs to build these." Instead, she advocates replacing old coal-fired power plants with new ones, rather than "squeezing everything you can out of old assets" and looking at energy resources that have not been considered. "What the council seeks is more investment in research, particularly in the sectors that it makes sense to invest in," she says. "Investment needs to be made in technology that can produce viable returns."

A recent report published by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has said large wind farms such as proposed here are not the way forward for New Zealand, the significant adverse impacts are avoidable by harnessing wind power using smaller clusters of small turbines servicing remote towns, and this will be better for the country. Unfortunately this report was published just after our hearing was completed.

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie today launched a $414 million climate change strategy to address what he called one of the "greatest challenges" facing the state. The new funding brings the total contribution to climate change initiatives to $1.3 billion, and proposes a number of key initiatives for business, industry and community through the ClimateSmart 2050 plan. One of the key components is the plan to increase the percentage of gas energy generation from the current 13 per cent to 18 per cent by 2020. He said using natural gas to generate power produces 50 per cent fewer emissions than coal.

"Wind farms aren't getting off the ground because there's no market for clean electricity from wind energy. Renewable energy targets are something the Government needs to implement. "It would provide investment certainty by requiring wholesalers to buy electricity from wind farms.''