WIND Power Pty Ltd has scrapped a proposal for a wind farm near Haddon saying the project was not economically viable.

An opponent of a 37-turbine wind farm planned for Te Waka Range west of Napier says the applicant has failed to tell the whole truth about the significance of the area.

The Maori Party has today welcomed the findings of the Environment Court in ruling against the erection of 37 turbines along Te Waka Range skyline on the Napier-Taupo Road. "The site of the Te Waka -Titiohanga-Maungaharuru range is a distinctive feature of the Hawkes Bay" said Maori Party Co-leader, Dr Pita Sharples. "It creates an unique skyline which has great value as a landform, as a recreation resource, and a milestone landmark".

The layout of 31 wind turbines proposed for Hawkesdale will go on display tomorrow. The proposed wind farm’s turbines would be visible from the Woolsthorpe Heywood Road, Camerons Road and Warrnambool Road, and will be within three kilometres from some homes. People have seven weeks to comment on the proposed layout, before a planning panel sits to hear formal submissions.

The site chosen for Meridian Energy's proposed wind farm on the Lammermoor Range west of Middlemarch was not an outstanding landscape and was of no particular significance, the first day of Project Hayes hearings in Alexandra was told yesterday.

Central Otago District Council began considering an application for the country's largest windfarm on Monday. Meridian Energy wants to build up to 176 wind turbines, covering 92 square kilometres, with a generation capacity of 630 megawatts, on the Lammermoor Range between Alexandra and Dunedin. More than 1000 submissions have been received on Project Hayes, with slightly more than half of them in favour of the project.

It could all be made so much fairer if energy companies took a different approach, Mr Canard says. Processes up to date have been "adversarial" and antagonistic, and that "hasn't worked for any of us". "It's ... made it very expensive, delayed the ability to get consents for things that actually need to be done, set up communities against communities, corporates against communities, and ordinary volunteer citizens against the might of professional experts. It's not a pretty sight."

The Children's Investment Master Fund, or TCI, a UK-based hedge fund which holds more than 14 per cent of BBW, called for the fund to sell its non-core assets in Germany and France and to also test the market for the sale of its remaining US and Australian wind farms. BBW said its directors welcomed its largest shareholder's views.

The Federal Government's decision not to increase renewable energy targets is being blamed for a decision to mothball Tasmania's $300 million Heemskirk wind farm.

The state-owned generator and retailer argued in Dunedin in June that a "test" developed by the Environment Court, which declined it consents to build the country's biggest wind farm, was unprecedented in nearly 20 years of the Resource Management Act.

Wind farm developer NZ Windfarms is hopeful the Government's National Energy Strategy will boost the development of wind farms. But chief executive Chris Freear said the key question for his company would be how much it would help. The Government is releasing the draft strategy today outlining a direction for the long-term development of energy resources, including how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Government has already signalled it favours the development of renewable energy such as hydro and wind power to meet the growth in energy demand.

Horizons Regional Council says it is right behind Environment Commissioner Morgan Williams’ call for regional councils to take a lead in managing wind farm development. Dr Williams’ report Wind Power, People and Place, was tabled in Parliament last week. Horizons chairman Garry Murfitt said he agrees with Dr Williams’ recommendation that regional councils take a leadership role in developing a proactive, strategic approach to wind power.

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.

His decision came as legal and environment groups indicated that he could end up in the High Court if he acted on a threat to take control of wind farm approvals from the states, on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. Senator Campbell last week overturned State Government approval of the Bald Hills wind farm in South Gippsland because it might kill rare orange-bellied parrots.

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.

"In the end, if you look years ahead, there are only two ways of generating the electricity that this nation needs - either through the current methods of fossil fuel use or through a combination of that in a cleaner form but with nuclear power." Mr Howard said he understood what the opinion polls were telling him, but they would never dictate policy.

The owner of land where the proposed Waverley windfarm is to be built says there is no community opposition. Landowner Warwick Lupton has reacted strongly to claims by Roger Dickie, who has vowed to fight the $300 million Allco Wind Energy project with heavyweight lawyers.

A GIANT $2 billion wind farm proposed for western NSW could double the number of turbines operating in Australia and provide as much electricity as a large coal-fired power plant.

Queensland's South Burnett region is set to be home to the biggest wind farm in the southern hemisphere after receiving "overwhelming" community support. The $1.2 billion project, called the Coopers Gap Wind Farm, is ...being proposed for 12,000 ha of cattle grazing country located almost midway between Kingaroy and Dalby in south-east Queensland. International specialist banking group Investec Bank and Windlab Systems, established by the CSIRO, will lodge a development application to build 252 wind turbine generators after successful feasibility studies and community consultations on the weekend.

Project Hayes was a 630 MW windfarm proposed for an upland plateau in Central Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. An appeal to the Environment Court has resulted in a judgement revoking the consent ...The 350 page judgement was delivered after nine months of deliberation by the Court. The judgement acknowledged the outstanding value of the landscape and loss of this value if the windfarm was built. The other major component of the decision revolved around the magnitude of the economic benefit to people and communities from building this windfarm compared to alternatives. The court was very critical of the lack of economic analysis.