Jubilant opponents of the wind farm have hailed the decision as a victory for the "small guys". Appellant John Douglas said it showed what could happen when community groups stood up for what they believed in. "It's also a slap in the face to show companies they have to respect what's in the district plan and the criteria in the Resource Management Act."

"It was an inappropriate scheme in an inappropriate place and I always felt that the bench would recognise that." That was Project Hayes appellant Grahame Sydney's reaction yesterday to the Environment Court's decision to uphold an appeal against Meridian Energy's proposed $2 billion wind farm on the Lammermoor Range in Central Otago. In a 350-page decision released to parties yesterday, the court refused consents for Project Hayes.

State-owned Meridian Energy's $2 billion Project Hayes wind farm proposal has been rejected in the Environment Court, dealing a savage blow to the wind power sector. The parties were handed a 350- page decision yesterday, which upheld the appeal against an earlier consent from local councils for the project. Environmental groups are claiming a "comprehensive victory" against the Central Otago project. ...An electricity industry source said the Environment Court "slammed Meridian".

A collection of humble plants clinging to 600 million-year-old rocks on a distant mountain range and a small dragon given to promiscuous sex under a hot sun have forced planners to redraw the map for the southern hemisphere's biggest wind farm. The discovery that spinifex - normally an inhabitant of the red dirt plains below - is living on sediment probably deposited in the last Ice Age and has red mallee and gum coolibah trees for neighbours is so strange and rare that the Silverton wind farm designers have moved 153 turbines from some of the windiest ridges.

The Environment Court has upheld an appeal against Meridian Energy's proposed $2 billion 176-turbine Project Hayes wind farm. The decision represents a startling "David and Goliath'' victory for the conservation groups who fought to preserve the landscape in a remote part of Central Otago. Consents for the project were declined in a mammoth 350-page ruling by the Court, published today.

The $150 million, 26-turbine Glen Innes Wind Farm project has been approved by the NSW Department of Planning, despite a campaign by some neighbours for a 2km setback and an ongoing State Parliament inquiry into rural wind farms. ...Due to "unacceptable visual and noise impacts" one of the 130m turbines was removed from the plan, Ms Keneally said.

Meridian Energy's boss has given Martinborough hints of a company backdown over a proposed wind farm. More than 150 residents met this week as opposition mounts to the company's proposal for a 45-turbine wind farm near a protected hill range. Chief executive Tim Lusk, who lives in Martinborough with wife Lesley, joined residents as the concerns were aired this week.

More than 150 Martinborough residents have vowed to fight against Meridian Energy's plan to build a wind farm near a protected ridge of hills after attending a public meeting in their town hall on Tuesday night. ...Residents living near existing or proposed wind farms in Makara, Ashurst and Taihape said the reality of living by wind farms was vastly different and worse than what they were told to expect during the consultation processes.

A group of Waikato land owners say Contact Energy's behaviour has been disgraceful over the handling of its proposed $1 billion wind farm planned for the region. Contact Energy is holdings its annual meeting in Wellington today, and a group of land owners plan to tell the directors of the company about their outrage over the Hauauru ma raki wind farm.

Protest is mounting against Meridian Energy's push for a big wind farm near Martinborough. Residents, fired up since Meridian made public its plan for a 50-turbine farm near a ridge known as Nga Waka O Kupe, have called a public meeting next week. Vineyard owners and local iwi are among those opposed. ...With opposition growing and calls for a united front to shut down the plan, Meridian is now urging opponents against "knee- jerk reactions".

A proposal to classify the Tararua Ranges behind Horowhenua as an outstanding natural landscape is opening up a wind farm debate among landowners. Under the Horowhenua District Council's proposed District Plan change, 22 wind turbines, each about 65 metres tall, would not get resource consent to be built in the ranges. If the changes go through, buildings and network utilities taller than three metres would be classed as non-complying activities.

State-owned power company Meridian is going ahead with construction of a $200 million, 64 megawatt wind farm near Raglan, in partnership with Waikato's lines company WEL Networks. The new wind farm construction is starting just as Meridian is finishing its 62-turbine project at West Wind, near Wellington. The Raglan project was first announced by WEL 3½ years ago, when it was expected to cost about $140m and involve a 72MW wind farm which it expected to have running last year.

The timing of hearings on the planned Turitea wind farm and an extension of Te Rere Hau means neither farm is required to consider the other, Tararua-Aokautere Guardians president Kevin Low says. Mr Low told the Te Rere Hau hearing that it was hasty. The two hearings are being conducted simultaneously. There was also potential for the Te Rere Hau extension to "leapfrog" Turitea, he said.

Environmentalists and residents have vowed to stop a 25-turbine wind farm from going ahead and are considering an appeal to the Environment Court. Wellington City Council granted Windflow Technology consent yesterday to build the 30-metre-high turbines at Long Gully Station, south of Karori and to the west of Brooklyn. However, opponents of the project said the council failed to adequately consider adverse impacts of turbine noise and vibrations on recreational users at Long Gully.

Christchurch-based Windflow Technology Ltd is a step closer to securing a second buyer for its pioneering two-bladed turbines with approval of a resource consent for the Long Gully windfarm proposal behind Wellington. MightyRiverPower, which recently took a 20 percent share in Windflow, would own and operate the 25 turbine, 12.5 Megawatt project, using Windflow 500 turbines, for which the Wellington City Council has now granted consent after relatively straightforward hearings.

An energy company looks to be fighting an uphill battle in its bid to build a wind farm on land near Martinborough, linked to the legendary Kupe. ...The proposal has been bandied about for well over a year but, as yet, no official moves have been taken to secure consent for the wind farm to be built and the plan is already facing opposition in the district. Farmer Richard Riddiford said most people in Martinborough know very little about what the power company proposes to do and for that reason wants to see a public meeting organised.

Meridian Energy is looking to carry out a survey in the next few weeks of the community near a possible wind farm site in South Wairarapa. Meridian spokesman Alan Seay said the company had been monitoring a site for a number of years in the Nga Waka a Kupe range about 8-9km southeast of Martinborough.

Renewable energy company Acciona has lodged an application for a $175 million wind farm at Allendale East near Mt Gambier. The development application, which has been 18 months in the planning, was lodged with the District Council of Grant onFriday. It proposes a 47-turbine farm capable of producing 70.5 megawatts of power, or the equivalent of powering 43,000 homes.

The Member for Burrinjuck, Katrina Hodgkinson, says valuable lessons need to be learnt from past mistakes in installing rural wind farms, to ensure they are not repeated.

A wind speed mast has been erected south of Mt Mackenzie at Bungulla to measure wind speeds in the area and test whether or not it could be a viable location for a wind farm. ...Tenterfield Shire Council has received one objection to the wind mast and John Hrobelko, Director of Environmental and Community Services, said he expected more.