Tasmania prides itself on being clean and green, but controversy is never too far away. A plan to create clean power by building wind turbines on a Hobart office block has been knocked back by the local council. In a fiery meeting last night, Hobart City aldermen said the installation of wind turbines would block the view of Mount Wellington and could even pose a risk to sky divers.

More than one million cubic metres of rock, clay, silt and topsoil will be moved to create the Turitea Wind Farm if the project gets the go-ahead. The ground would make way for the foundations of up to 121 turbines and 33 kilometres of new access routes. ...The hearing resumed this week after a break of nearly three weeks.

Wind turbines could interfere with the communications system that runs Tasmania's power supply. Transend has warned Hobart City Council that a plan to put wind turbines on top of the ANZ building in Elizabeth St could affect its microwave communication system.

Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett must approve the Stockyard Hill Wind Farm, under national laws, before it can go ahead. The project has gone to the Federal Government because it has been found likely to have significant environmental impact. It now must be assessed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Opposition planning spokesman Matthew Guy visited local residents of Lal Lal and Elaine on Friday to hear their concerns on the possible affect on their health and wellbeing if wind farms proposed for the area are built. ...While many people living close to the wind farms didn't notice them at all, many others were starting to cite a range of adverse health problems, including severe headaches, insomnia, dizziness, ringing in the ears, exhaustion and even blood pressure and heart issues.

The future of the Mt Stuart development was in doubt for several months earlier this year after its original developers, NZ Windfarms Ltd, pulled back on taking it to the next level before selling the project to the Central Otago company Pioneer Generation.. The resource consent application for the nine-turbine wind farm attracted 15 submissions with all but one opposing the application.

A humming noise from a wind farm near Wellington is driving sleep-deprived locals potty. "It's been horrific, it's noise torture," Makara resident Hans Renner said. "We just want some sleep, I don't think that's an unreasonable request." Haydon Miller said Meridian had promised the wind farm would not be noisy. "Either they misled us, or they got it terribly wrong."

The proposed Stockyard Hill Wind Farm will require further environmental studies to determine the impact of local wildlife. Last week the Federal Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts announced that Origin Energy’s proposed Stockyard Hill wind farm could have significant impact on protected species and communities. ...The decision will require further environmental studies be conducted to assess the severity of impact on native species and communities protected under the EPBC Act, such as migratory birds and critically endangered Natural Temperate Grassland of the Victorian Volcanic Plains.

Resources Minister Martin Ferguson has savaged environmentalists for demonising nuclear, gas and coal-fired energy despite knowing solar and wind energy are not viable on current technology. Mr Ferguson yesterday challenged the green lobby to embrace a "rational, science-based pathway" to energy generation, saying its blanket rejection of traditional energy sources is politically motivated.

The Federal Government's renewable energy targets will hit hospitals hard, increasing operating costs by millions of dollars every year, a Senate inquiry has been told. Labor plans to drive investment in renewable energy and wants a target of having 20 per cent of electricity coming from green sources by 2020.

Tasmania's first wind-power generator is planning to lay off nine workers as it continues to rationalise its business. Roaring 40s -- a 50-50 joint venture between Hydro Tasmania and Chinese Light and Power -- employs 54 Tasmanian staff plus contractors. ...Sixty turbines will be erected at Cape Portland and a new transmission line will connect the wind farm to the Tasmanian electricity grid at Derby.

After a lengthy debate, a set of guidelines to better help Hepburn Shire Council make planning decisions on wind turbines was adopted last night, but not without changes.

A revised set of guidelines to better help Hepburn Shire Council decide where, and if, wind farms can fit in certain areas will go before the council for the second time tonight. A decision on whether to adopt the guidelines was deferred for one month at the council's June ordinary meeting, after councillors decided changes needed to be made.

The Australian Federal Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) announced that Origin Energy's proposed Stockyard Hill wind farm could have significant impact on protected species and communities. They have therefore determined that the project be subject to "controlled action" under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC).

When the remaining turbines are switched on in the coming weeks Waubra will become home to the world's largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere with 128 turbines. However debate continues to rage in communities where proposals for wind turbines are met with strong anger and hostile community meetings.

Navigators property owners have vowed to fight any move to create a new powerline easement through bushland to connect the proposed Mt Mercer wind farm to the electricity grid. West Wind Energy has planning approval for the construction of 64 turbines at Mt Mercer but to connect the wind farm to the grid, a new easement would have to be created.

A couple near Ballarat say they have been forced to move out of their home because low frequency noise from nearby wind turbines is damaging their health. ...He says he and his wife Janine started experiencing health problems when the turbines were switched on. "I was waking up with headaches so I said to Janine, 'we're getting out of here', so we came to Ballarat," he said.

The Central Highlands could soon be home to the state's biggest wind farm but the endangered wedge- tailed eagle may stop the multimillion-dollar development before it begins. ...But the project faces one major hurdle that has stopped similar developments in the past. N. P. Power had identified that wedge-tailed eagles and white- bellied sea eagles inhabit the region, with two nests existing on the wind farm site.

Opinion is divided as to whether wind farms near Crookwell airfield, north of Canberra, will pose a threat to aircraft. But people with concerns have been invited to make submissions to a NSW upper house inquiry.

Green investors can be easy prey for opportunists hoping to turn a quick profit, rather than make a lasting difference. Matthew Kidman, portfolio manager at Wilson Asset Management, which invests heavily in smaller companies, says the clean energy industry has "done itself no favours".