Any suggestion by the Bracks Government that the power from wind farms would just supply the grid and offset that used by the desalination plant is clearly a deception aimed at smudging reality. The fact is, wind turbines in South Gippsland, like at many other places around the globe, produce little power and what they produce is unreliable.

The article in 'The Age' "Pass on the Salt" referred to Perth's desalination plant being powered wholly by the Emu Downs wind farm. Let's wait until it's been operating for a year or more and see what really powers that desalination plant. Experience with wind farms in South Gippsland reveals a couple of fatal flaws with the concept of them being a useful source of power. Firstly, the power they produced was found to be significantly less than claimed by the wind companies and the Bracks Government. Secondly, at a relatively early stage in the life of the turbines, mechanical failures further reduced the amount of power generated.

When the Toora wind farm was being constructed, promotion material stated "Toora Wind Farm will generate enough renewable energy to supply 14,000 households, while replacing the emissions of more than 91,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide produced annually from non-renewable sources such as coal."

Once the wind farm had been in operation for some time the power output was revised down to "6,600 households" and saving "48,000 tonnes of CO2." Some five years later with five turbines broke down its output is probably around 10% of installed capacity.

The Wonthaggi wind farm, next to the proposed desalination site, is another example. Ms Delahunty said when approving it. "Although the proposal is for a small wind farm (12 megawatts), it is capable of generating the electricity requirements of about 6,000 households and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by about 41,000 tonnes a year."

Less than a year later, data over June 06 from the company operating this wind farm revealed that for 16% of the time it drew more power from the grid than it produced and for 57% of time it could not produce more than 10 % of installed capacity. The significant amount of power it did produce was on a few wind days.

One year after construction one turbine suffered mechanical failure which further reduced the power output. It produces less than one half what Ms Delahunty claimed.

Germany has 16,000 wind turbines and considers that reliable output is only 8% of installed capacity. That is why they are currently building 26 new coal fired power stations.

Any suggestion by the Bracks Government that the power from wind farms would just supply the grid and offset that used by the desalination plant is clearly a deception aimed at smudging reality. The fact is, wind turbines in South Gippsland, like at many other places around the globe, produce little power and what they produce is unreliable.