A supplier of turbines for a planned wind farm at the Turitea Reserve is yet to be signed up, but Mighty River Power has confirmed three-bladed turbines will be used if the project goes ahead. The state-owned enterprise announced this week it will seek resource consents to build up to 131 turbines in the Turitea water catchment and neighbouring properties, 11 kilometres south-east of Palmerston North. Three independent commissioners are expected to hear the case.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal starts hearings today into a proposed wind farm near the Great Ocean Road at Newfield. Acciona Energy wants to build 15 turbines at the site, but in January, the Corangamite Council refused to approve the $50 million project.

A local lobby group, dubbed the "Rangitikei Guardians", claims Meridian Energy's Central Wind project will spoil the district's natural beauty. About 25 locals are involved in the group, which came into existence after Meridian announced plans to erect 52 turbines near Moawhango on the border of the Rangitikei and Ruapehu districts. Rangitikei Guardians spokesperson Gill Duncan said the wind farm is in conflict with the Rangitikei District Council's "Unspoilt" motto. "We expect to live in this beautiful country.

TrustPower was yesterday given the green light for its largest wind farm development, east of Mataura, but opponents are already warning to expect an appeal. The Gore District Council's hearing panel has approved all resource consents sought by the company from the council and Environment Southland. ...Turbines would dominate views within 7.5km of the site but the substantially positive effects of the wind farm outweighed negative visual effects, it says. To offset any adverse effects the panel has ordered that TrustPower pay a development contribution of 0.2 percent of the project's total value.

Trustpower's $400 million Kaiwera Downs wind farm, near Gore, has been granted consent, but that is likely to be appealed. The 240MW wind farm, 15km southeast of Gore, was approved yesterday by the Gore District Council and Environment Southland after the application was heard at an eight-day hearing in March and April. But an opponent of the development, Henry McFadzien, said an appeal will probably be made to the Environment Court, although he had doubts whether an appeal could be funded right through to a court hearing. In its decision yesterday, the hearing panel said the positive effects of the wind farm, at a national level, outweighed the negative visual effects.

"While the wind was howling we could be using it and leaving water in the lakes," says Sue Elliot. The Project Hayes scrap is a variation on theme for Meridian. It cancelled its $1.2b Project Aqua hydro development further north on the lower reaches of the Waitaki in March 2004, after strong opposition from some of the same figures involved in the present fight. Aqua would have been almost the same size as Hayes and its power would have been close to coming on-stream now. Spokesman Alan Seay says wind could provide up to 30 per cent of the country's power needs, as long as the wind farms were spread far and wide. Apart from high-profile opposition, there had been strong support from locals who see power use soaring, driven by demands for warmer homes and the South Island dairy boom.

Trustpower has reiterated that it may truck 72-tonne machines through Mosgiel's main street to its inland wind farm. But the Dunedin City Council's transportation operations manager, Don Hill, cannot see how that can be done. The power company wants to use Gordon Rd, if the Taieri River bridge on Allanton Rd cannot be strengthened, to truck heavy parts of machinery to the wind-farm site at Mahinerangi. TrustPower community relations managerGraeme Purches said the company had never intended to use Riccarton Rd. ...Under the consent conditions for the wind farms, the companies had to consult local authorities and prepare a traffic management plan, and those discussions had not taken place, Mr Hill said.

Mayor Steve Toms said the biggest issue the DCP set guidelines for was the setback distance for unrelated houses from turbines. "The two kilometres setback was a benchmark set up by other councils but certainly takes into account noise and aesthetic studies," he said. "Obviously there are rules in place but there is a certain amount of controversy with how noise affects residents. "The scale of these towers is rather higher than normal at 125 to 130 metres but we felt 2km to be a reasonable benchmark."

Plans for a large wind farm to be built along the Molonglo Ridge, south-east of Queanbeyan have been scrapped. The company which had proposed building 60 wind turbines along the ridge announced its decision after an evaluation of the site over the past four years. It released a statement saying the site would not meet its strict standards for appropriate development. Community groups fighting the development are claiming victory.

The decision by a panel of commissioners released today by Waikato District Council to approve resource consent for the project comes after five years of Wel investigations into wind power generation, and two years of feasibility studies on the Wharauroa Plateau in Te Uku. The decision also comes in a week where the Government's energy policies have been creaking at the joints, with blackout fears escalating and a decision made to reopen a mothballed thermal station in Taranaki but in climatic conditions not conducive to a wind farm. Wel's project team is now engaged in fully understanding the 148-page ruling and 26 pages of conditions, but chief executive Julian Elder welcomed the decision.

During Mr Rudd's visit to Traralgon on Saturday, he raised the issue of alternative energies and its impact on the region's future, while confirming his support for the Latrobe Valley's brown coal industry. "Obviously wind has a strong place... and that's why you will find in the budget we have significant funding allocations not just for research but the deployment of alternative energies as well,'' Mr Rudd said. "Windfarms are important in terms of an alternative energy resource for Australia but it's the location of windfarms which is a local developmental approval challenge. ...The wind turbine debate flared up recently when speculation surfaced that a windfarm could soon be built in the rural district of Carrajung. Rumours about a windfarm gathered momentum when representatives from energy company Synergy Wind were seen conducting wind measurements in the area.

Maniototo Environmental Society witness Queenstown landscape architect Paddy Baxter gave evidence in his professional opinion about the effects the 176-turbine wind farm would have on the landscape, visual, historical, and heritage values of the Lammermoor Range in Central Otago. Mr Baxter said the overall effects of the $1.5 billion proposal would be more than minor. In his cross-examination of the witness, Meridian counsel Andrew Beatson said the Queenstown landscape architect had last year lodged a personal submission in opposition to Project Hayes when it was the subject of a resource consent hearing in Alexandra. ...Judge Jon Jackson said the general opinions of Mr Baxter in regard to Project Hayes had to be "hugely devalued" by the court.

The Glen Innes Severn council has officially adopted a new policy governing the development of wind farms. ..."The critical issue that received wide support from the community is a recommended two kilometre buffer distance from non-related dwellings,' he said. "So those properties than don't have a turbine or wind farm on them ... council's asking for those applicants to understand that's the distance we'd be requiring."

TrustPower's hearing for the 200MW Mahinerangi windfarm concluded in Dunedin last week and now another division of the court is considering the Project Hayes application. Counsel for Meridian Andrew Beatson asked Judge Jon Jackson and commissioners Dr Alex Sutherland, Heather McConarchy and Ken Fletcher that they consider Project Hayes "as if the Mahinerangi proposal doesn't exist''. Several appellants are concerned about the cumulative effects of Project Hayes when combined with effects from other windfarms in the area.

Pre-feasibility studies are being done on proposed wind farms at Stockyard Hill and Tuki. The studies include assessing wind data and environmental studies, with some results expected in weeks. Wind farm company Wind Power has been working on its Stockyard Hill proposal for more than a year, where more than 150 turbines are being slated for construction. ...

Contact Energy had asked the national grid operator as far back as 2003 to investigate a power bottleneck, the Environment Court was told yesterday. ...But it was advised by the national grid operator the existing transformer was in reasonable operating condition and there was no need for a new transformer. The power company wants a condition imposed on the resource consents for the Mahinerangi wind farm, with capacity increased at transmission lines at the Roxburgh substation and between Roxburgh and Naseby. Mr Brinsdon said the company was forced to reduce generation at Roxburgh because of line constraints.

The controversy surrounding the proposed wind farm at Black Springs has not yet been resolved, with plans still in the hands of the Department of Planning. Because the development is over $32 million, the developer had the option of choosing the state government as the consent authority over The Oberon Council. The plans have been with the government for the past six months. ...the minister has expressed concern about several aspects of the Environmental Impact Statement including visual impact, noise and the flicker effect. As a result specialist consultants visited Oberon late last year. The proposal is for nine turbines.

Trustpower accused a power rival yesterday of presenting a misconceived appeal based on trade competition and naked protectionism. But it emerged at the Mahinerangi wind farm Environment Court hearing yesterday, national grid operator Transpower agreed power constraints at Roxburgh affected the ability to send power north, but it had no immediate plans to upgrade the lines. The hearing switched to transmission issues yesterday, with the beginning of the appeal of Contact Energy. ...Contact Energy says it is being forced to spill water at the Roxburgh dam due to insufficient lines capacity and said this would only increase should the Mahinerangi wind farm be built.

Griffin Energy plans to build one of the State's largest wind farms at Badgingarra. Griffin Energy executive general manager power generation Wayne Trumble said the proposal would provide up to 130MW of clean, green power to meet growing demand for electricity. ..."We now want to work with the community to maximise those opportunities." Discussions have already been held with relevant land owners and a series of community meetings are scheduled for both Badgingarra and Cervantes at the end of this month.

The hearing was adjourned last Thursday, following eight days of evidence in support of and against the project to give the hearing panel the chance to request further information should it need to. Gore district planning consultant Keith Hovell said yesterday nothing more had been added to the evidence presented at the hearing and it was officially closed yesterday afternoon. ... Given the volume and complexity of evidence, a decision was likely to take months ...