Opponents of Contact Energy's proposed 180-turbine wind farm on Waikato's west coast have claimed a victory after the electricity firm said it would seek an adjournment of the hearing into the controversial project. Contact will ask for a 12-month adjournment at Monday's board of inquiry proceedings so it can carry out more research, geotechnical assessments and surveying work.

Waikato District Council wants the Government to introduce national standards for the siting of wind farms. At its policy committee meeting this week, the council signed up to support a Palmerston North City Council remit to the Local Government New Zealand annual meeting which would call upon the Government to develop a "national policy statement" on where and how wind farms could be built.

A 128-turbine wind farm has been proposed for an area south of Ballan. The plan by WestWind, the company behind the Lal Lal and Mt Mercer wind farms, directly involves 14 landholders who have signed up to have turbines on their properties. Project developer Phil Burn said WestWind was now endeavoring to speak directly to landholders with properties neighbouring the wind farm.

The Lal Lal Wind Farm in the Moorabool Shire has been given the go-ahead by Planning Minister Justin Madden. ...Moorabool Shire Council mayor Cr Michael Tudball said he hoped the minister had considered concerns held by local residents, including the effect on local flora and fauna, the ability for the turbines to link into existing power grids, flickering, noise and proximity to residential areas.

Businessman Ross Townshend admits there's an element of a "not in my backyard" position in his opposition to a wind farm in the Waikato. His grumpiness about the project extends to calling former Environment Minister Trevor Mallard a duck and Contact Energy, one of our largest energy companies, incompetent. His position on wind farms generally is that they are an expensive form of energy generation getting a green light because of green politics.

Complaints about shortcomings in expert evidence have become a recurring theme at the board of inquiry considering Contact Energy's plans for a 184-turbine Waikato wind farm. This continued during the sixth day of the hearing at Tuakau yesterday, when Contact witness Chris James the "lead wind farm civil designer" and a Beca-employed consultant, according to his evidence-in-chief copped a verbal mauling from the commissioners.

On the sixth day of the hearing at Tuakau yesterday, that continued when Contact witness Chris James the "lead wind farm civil designer" and a Beca-employed consultant, according to his evidence-in-chief copped a verbal mauling from commissioners. They even went as far as questioning his credentials and qualifications to be giving evidence on civil engineering matters for the Hauauru ma raki west coast project.

Contact Energy is prepared to take the risk of building multimillion-dollar turbines at its proposed Waikato wind farm even if they might not be able to operate under consent conditions. ...the tension evident between Contact's plans and the Conservation Department which says there is not enough evidence to make a decision on the project has already emerged as one of the pivotal issues for the hearing.

State owned enterprises have given $8.4 million to the Department of Conservation over the past decade to settle resource consent issues. ...The largest amount was $7.2 million from Meridian for the Waitaki hydro project, ...DOC head Al Morrison said the money was used to mitigate environment effects and was preferable to costly court battles.

TrustPower has applied to the High Court to put an Otago protest group into liquidation because it has failed to pay court-awarded costs. The High Court ordered the Upland Landscape Protection Society Incorporated to pay $49,788.21 divided among five defendants in December after it failed to overturn resource consents for two wind farms.

Adelaide's building-mounted wind turbines never were "economically viable" and were clustered in inefficient city locations for "marketing impact" ...Despite the turbines being billed as "cost-effective" by Premier Mike Rann when he posed with one on his city office tower, the independent assessment by consultants, Sustainable Focus, shows the initial five machines would lose taxpayers around $80,000 on total.

Makara locals are furious after signs protesting against Meridian Energy's West Wind project were mysteriously removed apparently in case they were spotted by Prime Minister John Key. "It's terrible. This is New Zealand, not Zimbabwe," Makara farmer Graeme Hook said. Police are investigating and have spoken to a Meridian subcontractor.

Babcock & Brown Wind Partners Group (BBW) shareholders have approved the company's name change, finalising its separation from its troubled parent. At an extraordinary general meeting on Wednesday, shareholders approved a motion for the company to become known as Infigen Energy. Infigen is derived from the words infinite and generation.

Meridian Energy's new wind farm near Wellington will be switched on officially today, but is already generating noise complaints from nearby residents. "It's kind of a humming sound, not a swish-swish or a thump-thump," Makara resident Deb Compton said. The 62-turbine West Wind project has been taking shape southwest of Makara township since September 2007.

The massive Hauauru ma raki wind farm proposed for Waikato's isolated west coast might never get built. Contact Wind and Contact Energy counsel, Trevor Robinson, admitted as much under questioning on the opening day of a six-week board of inquiry hearing into the $1 billion proposal in Tuakau yesterday.

MainPower has appealed to the Environment Court over its proposed Mt Cass Wind Farm. A resource consent application for the project was declined earlier this month by the Hurunui District Council. Managing Director Allan Berge said MainPower had carefully considered the decision and believed it had strong grounds for an appeal.

All wind-farm proposals could be called in under Environment Minister Nick Smith's justification. And Palmerston North Mayor Jono Naylor says it proves the need for national guidelines.

Environment Minister Nick Smith's decision to call-in the Turitea Wind Farm proposal is being questioned after official documents revealed the proposal failed to meet most of the criteria. In December last year, Dr Smith called-in Mighty River Power's consent application because it was "nationally significant".

Waitahora wind farm opponents are warning Contact Energy it's got a fight on its hands at Environment Court. Contact Energy yesterday announced it would lodge an appeal against a decision by the Tararua District Council and Horizons Regional Council to reject a planned wind farm out at Waitahora, about 10km north-west of Dannevirke.

Having just had consent declined for a $550 million wind farm near Dannevirke, Contact Energy has another fight on its hands over an even bigger project in the Waikato. Contact has applied for consent to build a $1.2 billion 540-[mega]watt capacity wind farm with 150 turbines along the coast from Port Waikato to Raglan.