The Environment Court's decision to decline Meridian Energy's controversial Project Hayes wind farm on the Lammermoor Range could spell the end of large-scale electricity generation development in Central Otago, Mayor Malcolm Macpherson said yesterday. While he had not seen the 350 page decision, he assumed the main reason for declining consent was the special landscapes. "And if that's the case, it might set one of the most important precedents for Central Otago, Otago, and New Zealand.

It was always going to be one of the biggest things to hit Otago, whether you were for Project Hayes or against it. So it was no surprise it took two hearings to reach a decision on whether Meridian Energy could build its $2 billion wind farm on the Lammermoor Range. Two thousand pages of evidence were presented at the first hearing in Alexandra, held over 20 days from May to July 2007, with approval announced on October 31, 2007. But those opposed to the 176-turbine proposal appealed, saying they wanted a second shot at protecting precious Central Otago hinterland.

Jubilant opponents of the wind farm have hailed the decision as a victory for the "small guys". Appellant John Douglas said it showed what could happen when community groups stood up for what they believed in. "It's also a slap in the face to show companies they have to respect what's in the district plan and the criteria in the Resource Management Act."

"It was an inappropriate scheme in an inappropriate place and I always felt that the bench would recognise that." That was Project Hayes appellant Grahame Sydney's reaction yesterday to the Environment Court's decision to uphold an appeal against Meridian Energy's proposed $2 billion wind farm on the Lammermoor Range in Central Otago. In a 350-page decision released to parties yesterday, the court refused consents for Project Hayes.

State-owned Meridian Energy's $2 billion Project Hayes wind farm proposal has been rejected in the Environment Court, dealing a savage blow to the wind power sector. The parties were handed a 350- page decision yesterday, which upheld the appeal against an earlier consent from local councils for the project. Environmental groups are claiming a "comprehensive victory" against the Central Otago project. ...An electricity industry source said the Environment Court "slammed Meridian".

A collection of humble plants clinging to 600 million-year-old rocks on a distant mountain range and a small dragon given to promiscuous sex under a hot sun have forced planners to redraw the map for the southern hemisphere's biggest wind farm. The discovery that spinifex - normally an inhabitant of the red dirt plains below - is living on sediment probably deposited in the last Ice Age and has red mallee and gum coolibah trees for neighbours is so strange and rare that the Silverton wind farm designers have moved 153 turbines from some of the windiest ridges.

The Environment Court has upheld an appeal against Meridian Energy's proposed $2 billion 176-turbine Project Hayes wind farm. The decision represents a startling "David and Goliath'' victory for the conservation groups who fought to preserve the landscape in a remote part of Central Otago. Consents for the project were declined in a mammoth 350-page ruling by the Court, published today.

The $150 million, 26-turbine Glen Innes Wind Farm project has been approved by the NSW Department of Planning, despite a campaign by some neighbours for a 2km setback and an ongoing State Parliament inquiry into rural wind farms. ...Due to "unacceptable visual and noise impacts" one of the 130m turbines was removed from the plan, Ms Keneally said.

The potential health impacts of living near wind turbines will be the subject of further investigation by a New South Wales Parliament inquiry into rural wind farms. Two further hearing days begin today at State Parliament to explore issues raised during regional hearings at Tamworth and Goulburn.

University of Ballarat engineering lecturer Graeme Hood said the Victorian Government should commission a comprehensive independent investigation to determine exact levels of inaudible sound produced, after his own study proved inconclusive. ...Mr Hood said his research found that an audible swishing noise emitted by the turbines ranged between 60dB, or the equivalent of conversational speech, and 80dB, or the equivalent of average street traffic.

Meridian Energy's boss has given Martinborough hints of a company backdown over a proposed wind farm. More than 150 residents met this week as opposition mounts to the company's proposal for a 45-turbine wind farm near a protected hill range. Chief executive Tim Lusk, who lives in Martinborough with wife Lesley, joined residents as the concerns were aired this week.

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.

A renewable energy entrepreneur says he will be forced to cut 150 staff from his company unless the Federal Government can deliver more assistance to wind power equipment manufacturers. The threat comes as the Government's rebate for solar hot water has created huge demand, forcing down prices for renewable energy credits and stifling demand for other forms of alternative energy.

A group of Waikato land owners say Contact Energy's behaviour has been disgraceful over the handling of its proposed $1 billion wind farm planned for the region. Contact Energy is holdings its annual meeting in Wellington today, and a group of land owners plan to tell the directors of the company about their outrage over the Hauauru ma raki wind farm.

Protest is mounting against Meridian Energy's push for a big wind farm near Martinborough. Residents, fired up since Meridian made public its plan for a 50-turbine farm near a ridge known as Nga Waka O Kupe, have called a public meeting next week. Vineyard owners and local iwi are among those opposed. ...With opposition growing and calls for a united front to shut down the plan, Meridian is now urging opponents against "knee- jerk reactions".

A Tamworth public inquiry into wind farms in the northern tablelands has heard the developments do not comply with local planning guidelines. The New South Wales Planning Department has bypassed local government controls to push the projects through. A number of residents told the inquiry that noise and vibrations from the turbines will force them to move if the projects go ahead in their current form.

A proposal to classify the Tararua Ranges behind Horowhenua as an outstanding natural landscape is opening up a wind farm debate among landowners. Under the Horowhenua District Council's proposed District Plan change, 22 wind turbines, each about 65 metres tall, would not get resource consent to be built in the ranges. If the changes go through, buildings and network utilities taller than three metres would be classed as non-complying activities.

Over the seven weeks, commissioners, lawyers, court staff, noise experts, landscape architects, ecological experts, social researchers, engineers and even the press were paid to be in the room. Submitters, on the other hand, were spending time away from work, some of them using up annual leave – something they pointed out when Mighty River Power effectively extended the process by embarking on its redesign. The power company's concession – one of the most significant developments from the hearing so far – followed stinging criticism of the planned farm's visual impact.

State-owned power company Meridian is going ahead with construction of a $200 million, 64 megawatt wind farm near Raglan, in partnership with Waikato's lines company WEL Networks. The new wind farm construction is starting just as Meridian is finishing its 62-turbine project at West Wind, near Wellington. The Raglan project was first announced by WEL 3½ years ago, when it was expected to cost about $140m and involve a 72MW wind farm which it expected to have running last year.