The largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere will be built in south-western Victoria, with backers claiming it will generate enough power to run more than 220,000 homes.

Macedon Ranges Shire Council says it is yet to form an opinion on the development of wind farms in the municipality. The council is drawing up a wind farm policy and will seek public comment soon.

The board of Tauranga-based TrustPower is expected to announce early next year that it is ready to start building its $400 million Mahinerangi wind farm, near Dunedin. Community relations manager Graeme Purches said the announcement was a "fairly high probability". He expected the wind farm to be built in stages and the first stage might consist of erecting between 10 and 15 turbines.

As a result of the changes, TrustPower will withdraw its Resource Consent application to the Dunedin City Council, and submit revised Resource Consent applications for a 200MW wind farm to the Clutha District and Otago Regional Councils. The revised applications, along with assessments of environmental effect, are expected to be lodged in approximately six weeks.

MainPower has appealed to the Environment Court over its proposed Mt Cass Wind Farm. A resource consent application for the project was declined earlier this month by the Hurunui District Council. Managing Director Allan Berge said MainPower had carefully considered the decision and believed it had strong grounds for an appeal.

MainPower has confirmed it plans to build a wind farm on Mt Cass, about six kilometres east of Waipara in North Canterbury.

Electricity lines company MainPower said it has reached an agreement with a private land owner to extend its planned wind farm at Mt Cass in North Canterbury. The extension would double the original size and energy output of the wind farm.............

Community support for Wel Networks' proposed Te Uku wind farm appears high in the latest survey of Raglan district residents. But opponents of the project say a closer look at the figures show support is actually plummeting. ..."Back in 2006, Versus found that four per cent of the people surveyed opposed the wind farm," he said. "The new research shows that the number opposing the wind farm has grown to 20 per cent. "That is a 400 per cent increase in those opposing the wind farm. And the number of undecided people has grown from nine per cent to 14 per cent. "Although Wel are trying to put a positive spin on it, overall support for the wind farm has plummeted.

While the decision calls the West Wind proposal ‘repugnant' and found that nearby residents will be significantly and adversely affected, even if conditions are complied with, the Environment Court approved the development as ‘appropriate'. Despite having identified reasonable grounds for appeal, MG has determined that, even if successful, the outcome would be unlikely to materially reduce the number of turbines that would dominate the community. The prospect of significant additional cost in these circumstances was not considered to be justifiable. Makara Guardians Inc. has raised over $170,000 to support the campaign so far, and reports it has no outstanding debts.

An environment court panel looking at a proposed windfarm at the remote Wellington community of Makara has visited the area.

Rising costs are threatening to scuttle Meridian Energy's West Wind power project near Wellington. The estimated cost of building the wind farm is now $500 million, $120 million more than just two years ago, because of higher steel, transport and construction costs. Meridian chief executive Keith Turner says this has made the project at Makara - considered "the best wind site in the world" - marginally viable.

The Makara wind farm near Wellington will be smaller and about $80 million cheaper than expected, with work on the $430 million project to start next month. However, Meridian chief executive Keith Turner said rising costs and a lower exchange rate earlier in the year came close to ending "West Wind". Only a recent spike in the currency, cutting the cost of imported turbines, saved the project.

Meridian Energy told an Environment Court hearing in Wellington today it has agreed to an extensive suite of conditions to address all environmental concerns and a range of other matters at its proposed massive wind farm near Wellington.

A decision on the latest wind farm for Manawatu has been delayed. The Motorimu wind farm is planned for the hills behind Linton and would have 129 turbines, which could generate enough electricity to power 47,000 homes. It is being proposed by a subsidiary of Australia's Allco finance group, which has been told that the commissioners considering the project's resource consent application need more time. A ruling will now be made later this month. Company spokesperson Berhnard Voll says it is not concerned by the delay.

In response to shareholder inquiries, the company yesterday released a progress update on the Te Rere Hau wind farm it is developing in a joint venture with a consortium of Australian infrastructure investor Babcock and Brown, and international power company NP Power. NZ Windfarms chief executive Chris Freear said progress on the site had been helped by settled and dry weather during the summer, but the construction was two months behind what the company outlined in its prospectus.

A group of Manawatu residents took their opposition to a proposed wind farm on a reserve near Palmerston North to the High Court at Wellington today.

The Environment Court has ruled in favour of Maori spiritual values over an energy company's bid to erect dozens of wind turbines on a Hawke's Bay mountain range. The court said the 37 turbines would go against Maori spiritual values, including the site's history, water and sacred areas. Judge Craig Thompson said it was impossible not to absorb some of the depth of emotion expressed about the attachment of people to the area. Such rulings have in the past been subject to ridicule from business developers and politicians.

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.

Meridian Energy is putting the brakes on the push for a massive wind farm in Martinborough, saying it needs more time to listen to the community. It has proposed putting up 45 turbines on a range behind the town known as Nga Waka a Kupe - the canoes of Kupe. ...The proposal has encountered heavy opposition in Martinborough.

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.