TrustPower says earnings will be hit by a lack of wind for its turbines and a lack of rain for its dams during the first part of this year. Low hydro inflows and not enough wind meant it was pushed into buying power to supply its own customers on the spot market - where the very same climatic conditions had pushed prices sky high. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and fair value movement of financial instruments would be down by between $15 and $20 million for the first quarter, TrustPower says.

TrustPower Ltd today confirmed its profit will be affected by both lack of wind and lack of rain. The natural events reduced generation and forced it to buy on the spot electricity market. ...The company suffered from a combination of very low inflows into hydro catchments during April to June and very low wind production during May. Generation was 22 percent lower than expected.

The on-again, off-again Waverley wind farm consent hearing is off again - this time, indefinitely. The applicant, Australian-based Allco Wind Energy, now says it wants to sell the project first. "We want the new owner to conduct the hearing, rather than Allco being involved as a seller," Allco's technical director Bernhard Voll said. The hearing had been rescheduled for August 12. The South Taranaki District Council advised all parties on Monday that Allco had requested a further two-month postponement.

Meridian Energy has finally agreed to hand over its Project Hayes wind data to appellant groups but wants them to sign a confidentiality agreement. Groups opposing the Lammermoor Range wind farm say the company has been reluctant to release its data despite repeated requests for it to be made public. Merdian wind technical strategy manager Paul Botha told the Environment Court yesterday the data was case sensitive. ...Meridian agreed to release the data only to those parties involved in the Environment Court proceedings, which will be made available today.

The variant nature of wind energy generation could be costly to power users, and it is possible a $100 million transmission upgrade will not accommodate all wind farms currently proposed, an Environment Court appeal hearing was told yesterday. Upland Landscape Protection Society counsel Nick Russell, of Wellington, told the Project Hayes hearing in Cromwell constant variations in wind energy generation would strain the national transmission grid, which would in turn cost system operators. Those costs would be handed down to power consumers, he said.

New Zealand's largest proposed wind farm will not be built unless there is an intended upgrade of the national electricity grid, an Environment Court appeal hearing has been told. Meridian Energy counsel Andrew Beatson, of Wellington, said yesterday the company's proposed $1.5 billion Project Hayes wind farm on the Lammermoor Range would only be built if it was deemed economically viable. Mr Beatson said the national grid would have to be upgraded for Project Hayes to go ahead.

The majority of New Zealanders have no problem with the look of wind farms though not everyone wants to see them from their home, the latest Research New Zealand polling shows. ...Of those polled, 84 percent said they had no objection to the way wind farms looked, while 13 percent said they were opposed to the look of wind farms. However, the level of support fell if the wind farms were too close to home. When asked if they would object or approve of being able to see a wind farm from their home the level of opposition doubled to 26 percent. ...a significant proportion (37 percent) felt that New Zealand should consider nuclear power.

Rangitikei MP Simon Power has criticised Meridian Energy's Central Wind project, and said the company had not listened to resident's complaints. ...Mr Power has met with the "Rangitikei Guardians", a lobby group formed to oppose the Central Wind project, and will meet with Meridian next month to relay their concerns. "I'm concerned to hear that there are so many local residents who feel they haven't been listened to by Meridian," Mr Power said. "I was very concerned to hear the residents felt they hadn't been understood."

Barrabool Hills Landscape Guardians' Kathy Russell was angry Surf Coast Shire approved the plan with conditions this week despite community opposition. Ms Russell said objectors were "very disappointed" with council's decision "We will continue to challenge this development at Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal," Mrs Russell said. "If we can't stop the development we will try to make sure the guidelines remain. The developers will try to get the restrictions removed, so we've got to make sure we don't lose any ground."

The future of the proposed Ben Lomond Windfarm is unclear, with the developers putting the project up for sale. Developer the Allco Finance Group has announced it is in the process of selling its wind assets. Media representative Bernard Voll said the environmental assessment has been completed but would be lodged by the purchaser. "It is ready to be lodged with the Department of Planning but how it is done is a decision the purchaser will make. The sale is expected to be completed in the next week," he told the Examiner last Wednesday.

Contact Energy is considering spending $500 million developing a wind farm on the Puketoi Range near Dannevirke in southern Hawke's Bay. The proposed Waitahora wind farm would be up to 177 megawatts in size and have 65 turbines ...Contact had signed a land use agreement with a private land owner, chief executive David Baldwin said. A resource consent was likely to be filed later this year.

Meridian Energy says more wind generation capacity could have prevented the threat of a power crisis this winter. New Zealand's largest power company says wind is more reliable than hydro power generation because it is always blowing somewhere. It says people should not read too much into official production figures which showed the Te Apiti wind farm produced only a sixth of its installed capacity during some autumn months.

Officials figures indicate that the wind energy sector did not produce enough power this winter. ...During some weeks in autumn, Meridian Energy's Te Apiti wind farm produced only one sixth of its installed capacity. Energy experts say the problem could intensify in future dry autumns if the Government presses ahead with additional renewable energy schemes.

Mighty River Power development manager Stuart McDonnell said the company will host information days about the project in the Palmerston North Convention Centre next week and the following week. The Manawatu Standard has previously reported that up to 60 turbines could be put in the Turitea water catchment. It's understood that most of the planned 131 turbines would be on private land. The High Court ruled a year ago that the reserve could be used for renewable electricity generation.

In March last year, Windpower Maungatua Ltd announced its proposal to build a 40-turbine, 20MW wind farm on a second ridge well back from the Mt Maungatua face which overlooks the plain ...However, Windpower Maungatua director Dave Tucker said yesterday a second ridge, a few hundred metres below the present site but on the same farm block, had been identified and a further 10 turbines could be sited there. It could produce a total 25MW of power from 50 turbines, he said.

The Pyrenees Shire Council has urged Mr Madden to order an environmental examination, given the magnitude of the project and the level of public concern about its impact. Pyrenees Shire Mayor Lester Harris said last night the local community was divided about the project. Although there had been minimal public objections to three smaller wind farms in the region, residents were concerned about the number of proposed turbines at Stockyard Hill and their visual impact. ...The wind farm, located between the towns of Beaufort and Skipton, would cover about 250sqkm.

Truescape makes three-dimensional (3D) video simulations to show people what proposed projects like wind farms would look like on the landscape before they were built. It has already worked on a number of New Zealand's wind energy projects, including Meridian Energy's White Hill in Southland and Te Apiti near Palmerston North. The US contract will see it working on wind projects being built by Bluewater Wind off the coasts of New Jersey and Maryland.

NZ Windfarms' chief executive Chris Freear said the foundations go into the soil much like a tree root and used between 40 and 50 cubic metres of concrete compared with the 64 cubic metres used in the original design. "The foundations are smaller and smarter and reduce earthworks by about 60%." The listed wind farm developer worked closely with Windflow Technology, which came up with the design.

The first of the 28 towers are going up in the second stage of the Te Rere Hau wind farm in the hills above Palmerston North, NZ Windfarms says. ...NZ Windfarms has a 50 percent stake in Te Rere Hau, with the other 50 percent owned by NP Power and Babcock and Brown Wind Power. The project has resource consent for 97 turbines and is due to be finished in mid-2009.

Trustpower does not want to pay the Gore District Council a development levy for its $380 million wind farm and is prepared to take its fight to the Environment Court. The company has lodged an appeal against its own project, taking issue with resource consent conditions relating to the levy, the exclusion of wind-farm landowners from a community consultation group and shadow flicker rules. If successful, TrustPower wants the council to cover the costs of its appeal.