The Turitea Wind Farm will be fast- tracked through the resource consent process after the Environment Minister said the Palmerston North City Council could not be impartial. Minister Nick Smith announced yesterday he was calling in Mighty River Power's proposed 131 turbine wind farm, sending it to a board of inquiry. He called it in because of the national significance of the project, he said.

The Hepburn Community Wind Park was meant to show what one community can achieve, and to lead the development of many such projects in Australia. However, three years after the push began to build the two-turbine mini wind farm, and four months after its sponsors began raising the capital to realise their dream, the idea hangs by a thread. Investment dollars have dried up as small investors keep a tight hold of their cash and large investors wait to be convinced that the project is viable.

The High Court has ordered an Otago protest group to pay nearly $50,000 in costs after it failed to overturn resource consents for two Central Otago wind farms. Justice John Fogarty on Thursday ordered the Upland Landscape Protection Society Incorporated to pay $49,788.21 separated over five defendants.

An investment bank that has sold a wind farm proposal in Queensland's South Burnett says it is confident the new owner will bring the project to fruition. The South African-based Investec Bank has sold the Coopers Gap project, and another in Victoria, to energy company AGL for $14 million.

Wind energy specialist NZ Windfarms is a step closer to achieving positive cashflow from operations after buying out its joint venture partners in the Te Rere Hau wind farm project on the Tararua ranges. The company announced this morning it has bought the 50% share held by NP Power and Babcock & Brown WindPower for $20.1 million in cash, through its subsidiary NZWL-TRH. The purchase brings the Te Rere Hau Wind farm under complete ownership of NZ Windfarms.

Investment firm Babcock & Brown says it is in dispute with a bank which holds a deposit of a material amount relating to the release of that deposit. Babcock requested a trading halt in its shares today, saying it expected the halt to remain until the dispute was resolved. The owner of wind farms and properties has lost 99% of its market value this year as it struggles to sell assets to repay $3.1 billion in loans.

Babcock & Brown Ltd (B&B)has sold wind farm assets held by B&B Wind Partners in Portugal for $2.23 billion. The assets were sold to a consortium of investors led by Magnum Capital. B&B said it would earn $285.82 million in net proceeds from the sale of its 50% share of the portfolio. This represents a price above book value and will be used to pay down project debt secured against European wind assets, it added.

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.

A proposal to build a $180 million wind farm along the hill ridges at Waterloo has been dusted off after sitting on the shelf for the past three years. Initially proposed by Hydro Tasmania, now Roaring40s, the 39-turbine wind farm got the official nod of approval from local councils in 2005. Roaring40s public relations and communications manager Josh Bradshaw visited the region last week and spoke to Clare and Gilbert Valleys and Goyder councils about the project and plans to expand on the original development, to include turbines at Stony Gap and Robertstown.

The Merredin Shire last week approved the construction of a wind farm by joint venturers Collgar Wind Farm and the CSIRO backed Windlab Systems. Investec Bank (Australia) Limited will fund and develop the $600 million project, which will comprise of 127 wind turbines capable of generating up to 267 megawatts of power, enough to power about 160,000 homes a year. Investec project manager Mark Headland said there were excellent opportunities for local business involvement during the wind farm's construction phase.

A shire media release said Ross Richards told them that the proposed Tuki Wind Farm was temporarily on hold because of "the price of carbon, the emissions trading scheme details and the nature of the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target". Mr Richards said that if the proposal went ahead a planning application would be lodged in the first half of next year. The meeting also brought up a difference of opinion over significant landscape overlays.

Permission to build four more turbines - a mere four of at least 38 extra Motorimu wanted - has been hailed as a victory by opponents of the wind farm and they say there are ramifications for other planned farms like Turitea. ..."There were huge resources against us," Millricks Line resident Alison Mildon said, but the fight had to be fought. "There are adverse effects, it is not a benign industry," she said.

In an Environment Court decision released this week, Judge Brian Dwyer and two commissioners ruled a total of 80 turbines could be built on the Tararua Ranges around Tokomaru. The site crosses the Palmerston North and Horowhenua boundaries. Last year, the court consented 75 turbines, but turned down 52. Motorimu appealed the decision, arguing at least 38 extra turbines were essential to the viability of the project.

Merredin Shire Council has approved the construction of a wind farm by joint venturers Collgar Wind Farm and the CSIRO backed Windlab Systems. Investec Bank (Australia) Ltd will fund and develop the $600 million project, comprising 127 wind turbines capable of annually generating up to 900,000 megawatt hours of electricity ... The project's construction team is planning a forum in Merredin for local sub-contractors to register their interest in the project, probably in mid-October.

Soaring world demand for steel could more than double the cost of building wind farm towers in Portland next year. Forecast rises for Australian steel would mean a $70 million bill for Portland-based Keppel Prince Engineering. Flat plate steel which cost $1200 a tonne early this year is tipped to hit $2800 a tonne in 2009.

Trustpower's bid to develop a multi million-dollar wind farm, at Kaiwera Downs near Mataura, appears destined for the Environment Court. Gore district planning consultant Keith Hovell said a pre-hearing, in Dunedin on Thursday, saw the Uplands Landscape Protection Society win the right to continue with its appeal, as it was lodged, against resource consents for the wind farm. The hearing would not be held until April 2009, at the earliest, he said.

TrustPower yesterday "put on hold" its earlier application to strike out part of an appeal by the Upland Landscape Protection Society against a proposed $400 million wind farm at Kaiwera Downs, near Gore. During a preliminary hearing in the Environment Court at Dunedin, TrustPower initially sought to strike out part of a wide-ranging appeal by the society against a consent granted to the energy firm's wind farm in June. The Gore District Council and Southland Regional Council are respondents in the case.

RES Australia has revised its plan for the number of turbines to be constructed as part of the proposed Ararat Wind Farm, determining that the site has the potential for 76 wind turbines. ..."We previously advised that the scope of the project would be approximately 50 wind turbines,'' RES Australia Developer Sedat Erol said. "Through further engineering, planning and environmental assessments it has been determined that the site has potential for further generation capacity.

A "dangerous" discussion that verged on perverting the course of justice was silenced by mayor Maureen Reynolds at a Tararua District council meeting yesterday. In a highly unusual move, Mrs Reynolds let two Waitahora wind farm opponents sitting at the back of the meeting ask questions during council discussion. But when the talk threatened to infringe on the future impartiality of councillors, she was forced to clamp down on the session.

Plans have been unveiled to create one of the largest wind farms in Australia at a cost of more than $200 million on the scenic outskirts of Orange. The Central Western Daily has revealed the details of a proposal by investment bank Babcock and Brown to build at least 40 turbines to the south of the city near Forest Reefs. ... A year of data testing is now under way, with three specially constructed 80 metre high mast towers designed to measure wind speeds now in place at the peak of the area's ridge line.