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.

Contact Energy's fight to build a $550 million wind farm near Dannevirke is heading for an Environment Court showdown. Consent for the 65-turbine wind farm on the Puketoi Range, about 10 kilometres northwest of Dannevirke, was declined this month after a nine-day hearing.

A unit of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan's largest heavy-machinery maker, sued partner Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group US LLC seeking payments under wind-turbine contracts worth $US1.4 billion ($1.9 billion).

Days after consent for a farm near Dannevirke was denied last week, commissioners appointed by the Hurunui District Council also rejected a plan for a wind farm on Mount Cass in North Canterbury. MainPower is planning to build a $200 million wind farm on the site and commissioners Paul Rogers, Paul Thomas and Dean Chrystal spent three weeks during November and December carrying out site visits and hearing evidence.

Contact Energy's plan to build the largest wind turbines in New Zealand near Dannevirke has been blown away by electricity commissioners, who have turned down the power giant's application to erect 65 of the turbines. Contact lodged a joint application to Tararua District and Horizons Regional Councils to erect the wind farm on a 3600 ha site in the Waitahora valley south east of Dannevirke, with the hearing into the case wrapping up last month.

Tasmanian company Roaring Forties has been given the final Commonwealth approvals for its planned windfarm at Musselroe Bay in the state's north-east. The news comes as Hydro Tasmania conducts a review of the company's operations.

The board of Babcock & Brown's wind energy offshoot is resisting attempts to have it effectively wound up after its largest shareholder called for the fund to sell all its European, US and Australian assets. The Children's Investment Master Fund (TCI), a London-based hedge fund, has argued that the ASX-listed Babcock & Brown Wind Partners Group (BBW) should opt to liquidate itself as the best way to close the gap between its ailing share price and the value of its existing wind farm and development right assets.

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.

Meridian Energy is investigating building a wind farm on a site of historic importance to Maori, near Bluff. Invercargill City Council resource management officer Judith Christie said the council had recently granted Meridian resource consent to erect a wind monitoring mast on Flat Hill, about 5km northwest of Bluff.

The Member for Kiama, Matt Brown, has come out against wind farms in the Kiama area, less than a week after the Premier named the New South Wales south coast as one of five areas targeted for wind projects. Premier Nathan Rees announced at last Friday's job summit the south coast is one of five areas with the potential for generating wind power and he wants to see such approvals streamlined.

The major backers of a $50 million Dunedin wind farm have ended participation in the project, but its southern founders are adamant they will continue and seek other financial backers. The future of the proposed 50-turbine 25MW Mt Maungatua wind farm development - located on a ridge behind Mt Maungatua above the Taieri Plain - appears in doubt.

The Department of Conservation was paid $175,000 by Meridian Energy to drop its opposition to the $2 billion Project Hayes wind farm. The department is the third wind farm opponent Meridian Energy has silenced, with Ngai Tahu and the Historic Places Trust both withdrawing their opposition last year following settlements, with the latter including a $179,000 payment.

The Government has ordered the Department of Conservation to deliver a full report on its cash deal with Meridian Energy and expects to get it today or tomorrow. Claims that Meridian paid $175,000 in return for DOC keeping quiet about its concerns over the Project Hayes windfarm near Ranfurly in central Otago have been rejected by the department.

A confidential agreement worth $175,000 the Department of Conservation signed with Meridian Energy over a controversial wind farm should not have been secret, green party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said today. Radio New Zealand reported a confidential document showed Meridian agreed to pay DoC the money in return for the department not opposing the Project Hayes windfarm near Ranfurly. The agreement was signed in May 2007.

A confidential document obtained by Radio New Zealand shows Meridian Energy agreed to pay DoC $175,000 in return for DoC not opposing the Project Hayes windfarm near Ranfurly. The agreement was signed in May 2007 and called for a range of matters to be addressed.

Two Tararua district councillors are being accused of wanting to cash in on the proposed $500 million Waitahora wind farm, compromising their ability to make fair decisions. The Waitahora-Puketoi Guardians, a group formed in protest against Contact Energy's proposed 65-turbine wind farm on the Puketoi ranges, say the councillors should not be involved in any wind farm- related decisions. But the councillors say they have made their interests clear.

The effects of two neighbouring wind farms on a remote Central Otago landscape will be examined by expert witnesses during a four-week Environment Court hearing. ...Meridian Energy is seeking permission for Project Hayes, a $2 billion, 176-turbine, wind farm on the Lammermoor Range in Central Otago. The farm could generate up to 630 megawatts (MW) but has encountered bitter opposition from various groups. Consent was granted in October 2007, but has been appealed.

A war of words has broken out between wind power's "David and Goliath" three days before the Project Hayes development heads back to the Environment Court. ...Mr Carr ...said the extensive appeal process might not have been required if the energy companies had fronted up with accurate, pertinent information in the first place.

A proposed billion-dollar wind farm has been earmarked for 52km of the Woakwine Range. The proposal, triple the size of the Lake Bonney Windfarm, involves up to 300 turbines producing 600 megawatts of energy.

The state member for Burrinjuck, in central west NSW says the power to approve wind farm developments should be returned to local councils. Katrina Hodgkinson is calling for the NSW Government to hold a parliamentary inquiry into the planning requirements for wind farms as well as their effectiveness in conserving energy.