The Tasmanian wind power company, Roaring 40s, says a wind turbine at its Woolnorth farm injured a wedge-tailed eagle two weeks ago. The eagle's wing was damaged and it had to be put down by a vet.

People who want to tell a board of inquiry what they think of the redesigned Turitea Wind Farm proposal will soon find out if the board wants to hear from them. Of 225 submitters on Mighty River Power's adjusted proposal, 103 people said they wanted to speak to the board, but the board is unlikely to give all of them a slot at the hearing, which resumes in Palmerston North next week.

Electricity lines company Eastland Networks has been denied a Commerce Commission exemption to operate its wind-farm at Mokairau, north-east of Gisborne.

NSW risks losing $9 billion in energy investment if it fails to make a quarter of the state's electricity green by 2020, says a report to be released today. High-tech companies have confirmed they will abandon projects combating climate change and go overseas if Premier Morris Iemma does not do more to help. With a national scheme about to expire, the companies want new state laws to force electricity retailers to buy energy that is generated using solar power, wind or waste instead of fossil fuels, which are blamed for climate change.

BABCOCK & Brown could bring $1 billion worth of new wind energy projects on stream in Australia following the Rudd Government's commitment to having 20 per cent of energy use in the form of renewable energy by 2020. The chief executive of Babcock & Brown Wind Partners, Miles George, said this could involve 500 megawatts of new wind power projects around Australia, where development had been put on hold because of uncertainties about the federal Government's energy policies. "Babcock & Brown has developments in Australia which have effectively been put on hold because of the hiatus in federal government policy over renewable energy," Mr George said inan interview with The Australian. "The company has leased sites all around Australia which are likely to be revisited now there has been a change of government." At the moment, wind power represents only about 1 per cent of Australian energy use.

Prince Charles claims to have a small carbon footprint but others beg to differ...The prince offsets carbon emissions from his homes and U.K. flights with Climate Care, which invests in sustainable projects such as wind turbines in India and cleaner cooking stoves in Honduras. Foreign flights are expected to be offset as part of a governmenTo outsiders and insiders alike the way the national electricity market operates can seem one of the marvels of the universe - not only in complexity, but in the way commercial realities can be distorted. For example, who would have believed that wholesale electricity prices could be negative?t fund later this year.

In an interview with The Australian in Canberra yesterday, Mr Garrett [the Environment Minister] said he was worried by the number of wind farm proposals that had been refused because of objections by the local community. "Australians have got to realise the time has come to embrace wind and wind farms in appropriate locations, bearing in mind they are going to be visible on the landscape -- that a 'not in my back yard' kind of mentality won't see us rolling out the deployment of wind that we need," Mr Garrett said.

HOUSEHOLDS in Albury and other parts of NSW would only pay another $1 a week by 2020 to help the state reach renewable energy targets, Labor candidate for Albury Chris Ryan said yesterday. Mr Ryan said energy targets that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions would be an issue at the March state election. Premier Morris Iemma last week set new targets which mean that, by law, 10 per cent of electricity consumed in NSW by 2010 must come from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.

The switch to “clean green” energy sources will cost households up to 40 per cent more on their power bill, Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane has said. Mr Macfarlane said it was inevitable there would be “big jumps” in power bills, but said most people were unaware of the looming increases. “I don’t think the consumers fully understand the price tag associated with lower greenhouse gas emissions,” he told The Courier-Mail in an exclusive interview.

Last month, the Environment, Resource and Development Court upheld an appeal against the $175 million Allendale development, on the basis of the farm's visual impact. ACCIONA Energy has lodged a notice of appeal against that decision.

The panel ruled noise and vibration from the 41-turbine development would adversely and unreasonably affect the health and amenity of locals. ...TRUenergy denied vibration would have any adverse effect.

Opponents of a planned $400 million wind farm at Lake Mahinerangi, near Dunedin, have been warned that they could be liable for costs if they lose an appeal they are taking in the Environment Court, according to one of those opposing the plans. Ewan Carr, a member of the Upland Landscape Protection Society, which has appealed the planned 100-turbine project, said the society had been warned of the possibility of large costs by lawyers acting for wind farm backer TrustPower. Carr said he had received phone calls and a letter from a Trustpower lawyer stating TrustPower had spent close to $1m on witnesses for the appeal. "He said `If you don't withdraw your appeal, TrustPower reserves the right to pursue those costs'."

Mighty River Power has refused an Official Information Request to provide reports on the proposed Turitea wind farm. The Manawatu Standard asked for three reports draft water quality monitoring plan, visual landscape assessment and ecological impact assessment first from Palmerston North City Council and then from Mighty River Power. A letter from the energy company’s legal counsel Sarah Ongley said the request was denied for reasons of commercial sensitivity.

Just one day after John Howard committed the Government to new clean energy targets, Tourism Minister Fran Bailey insisted wind power was largely unsuitable for Australia, saying there was no evidence it was a feasible alternative energy source. And despite the Government saying its new strategy would cost $7.5 billion, senior Howard ministers had warned three years ago that a more modest doubling of mandatory renewable energy targets would cost the economy $23billion, when they were arguing against an increase to the original scheme.

STATE Liberal leader Ted Baillieu has rejected Labor claims he is a "greenhouse sceptic", while mounting a pre-election push for less emissions and cleaner coal. With the environment shaping as a key issue in the lead-up to the November 25 poll, Mr Baillieu yesterday said a Liberal government would set up a greenhouse gas emission fund to foster new investment in low-emission technologies. He said power generation technology was more crucial to Victoria's growth than biotechnology.

Engineers are warning that the need to provide back up for intermittent wind-generated electricity is emerging as a significant concern for maintaining supply when hydro lakes are low in dry years. A new report on this country's electricity generation also said that the Institution of Professional Engineers of New Zealand (Ipenz) considered that the target of producing 90 percent of New Zealand's electricity from renewables by 2025 was never practical, and it recommended the government remove the target.

The potential impact on visual amenity and noise levels will provide the basis for an appeal by four local residents against the proposed Mt Bryan Wind Farm which is planned for the Razorback Ranges east of Hallett. They are appealing the June 4, 2009, decision of the Regional Council of Goyder's Development Assessment Panel, which gave planning approval to AGL Energy for the development. The appeal will be considered by the Environment, Resources and Development Court of South Australia with an expected five-day hearing to start with a site inspection of Mt Bryan on May 24.

The Environment Court found that while the proposal would have positive effects in terms of climate change and had benefits in establishing a renewable energy source, this was outweighed by landscape effects and the affects on the value of the Te Waka range to local tangata whenua. "Important as the issues of climate change and the use of renewable sources of energy unquestionably are, they cannot dominate all other values. The adverse effects of the proposal on what is undoubtedly an outstanding landscape, and its adverse effects on the relationship of Maori with this land and the values it has for them, clearly bring us to the conclusion that the tipping point in favour of other values has been reached," said the decision.

Ninety turbines will be constructed around the Titiokura Saddle and Maungaharuru Range, near Te Pohue contributing to the renewable energy target set by the Government.

A first count of submissions for a massive wind farm planned for Central Otago shows an exact split of opponents and supporters. Meridian is planning to build a 176-turbine wind farm on the Lammermore Range, about an hour from Dunedin. It will be one of the world’s largest. Central Otago District Council has logged 529 submissions in support of the farm and the same number against it.