Investment in regional Australia from new wind energy projects is uncertain after the government announced that the panel to review the Renewable Energy Target (RET) will be made up primarily of big business representatives.

Taxes & Subsidies Australia

The State Department of Planning and Infrastructure says wind turbines at the Gullen Range wind farm are not being built to plan. Many of the 73 turbines have been built at locations up to 187 metres away from those originally planned and authorised.

General Australia

The company behind a 73-turbine wind farm currently under construction at Gullen Range near Crookwell has been rebuked by the Department of Planning and Infrastructure for building turbines in unauthorised locations and as far as 187 metres away from the approved sites.

General Australia

The NSW Government has asked the proponents of the Gullen Range Wind Farm to stop work on key turbines after an investigation by the Department of Planning and Infrastructure found “serious” breaches of its approval. Many of the 73 turbines have been constructed in different locations to what was originally approved.

Zoning/Planning Australia

A deal has at last been reached between Moyne Shire and AGL Australia over roads damaged from construction of the Macarthur wind farm. AGL has confirmed this week it has come to “a verbal agreement” on a settlement for roads torn up in the making of the $1 billion development.

Impact on Landscape Erosion Australia

Given that many poor people rent houses, or cannot afford to install solar panels and the like, they effectively subsidise the wealthier people who can. ...there has been no mechanism to help poor people meet the higher cost of electricity as a result of the RET. Apologists for the RET will make the claim that the extent to which the RET has contributed to higher electricity prices is small - 3-5 per cent. This claim is contentious. It should be noted that the estimate only covers the cost of complying with the RET and does not include the change to wholesale electricity prices.

Energy Policy Australia

NHMRC chief executive Warwick Anderson said work so far showed only seven studies worldwide were reliable enough to draw conclusions. "It's clear that further high quality research is needed, particularly exploring some of those health-related effects," he said. "At that stage we will consider calling for specific research to attack these particular gaps in knowledge."

Impact on People Australia

This is a story about the wind industry and turbine manufacturer, Vestas and the global campaign to counter dissent about the adverse impacts caused by their product to an often ignored minority of people living in rural communities worldwide.

Impact on People Noise Australia

"Look, the Renewable Energy Target is - it's corporate welfare on a massive scale directed towards the renewable sector. I don't know why anyone would have any level of sympathy for businesses that - they don't employ many people, that they don't export anything and they've surreptitiously imposed these massive costs on energy consumers for the sake of lining their own profits."

Impact on Economy Taxes & Subsidies Australia

A legal challenge against the controversial $2 billion King Island wind farm proposal could be thwarted if state-owned Hydro Tasmania succeeds in making its opponents find $165,000 as security for costs. Wind farm opponents, the No TasWind Farm Group, said its legal challenge security cost "tipping point" was only about $20,000.

Impact on People Australia

And Greg Barratt said he was confident the community would have the final say after the completion of Hydro's feasibility study, rejecting any concerns the state- owned company would simply rubber stamp the project. "I think it's better that the community decide rather than having a court decision," Cr Barratt said.

Impact on People Australia

Tarago  Village Hall was packed to capacity last Sunday afternoon with residents voicing their concerns about the proposed Jupiter Wind Farm. Over 200 residents attended the meeting along with Member for Goulburn Pru Goward, Member for Hume Angus Taylor, Palerang Shire Mayor Peter Harrison, and also Councillors Richard Graham and deputy mayor Belinda Hogarth- Boyd.

Impact on Wildlife Australia

A $1.5 billion wind farm south-west of Ardrossan on Yorke Peninsula in South Australia has been approved. ...The Heartland Farmers group says the wind farm will hurt agricultural land particularly given the area is more densely populated than other wind farm sites. Its Chairperson Naomi Bittner says it's not satisfied the project meets planning guidelines and is surprised it's been approved.

General Australia

With the carbon tax potentially to be scrapped when the new Senate sits after July, Prime Minister Tony Abbott and other senior Coalition figures have increasingly set their sights on the mandated target for renewable energy, blaming it for forcing up power prices.

Taxes & Subsidies Australia

The No Tas Wind Farm group claims Hydro Tasmania did not have broad community support for its $2 billion project and it should not go ahead.

Legal Australia

The first Mt Mercer Wind Farm turbine only began generating power last November 19. Two months later, 15 of its planned 64 turbines are up and running – and residents who live close by are cautiously awaiting the wind farm hitting full capacity.

General Australia

Doctor Mauri Johansson says the wind industry is so powerful that it's managed to have negative research suppressed and has used its influence to prevent fresh research. "In the Nordic countries, the wind turbine industry has been successful to hide all these informations. We know already from the 1980s, in USA, very serious research was done showing clearly that people get ill but that was buried totally in the late 80s by the industry. It seems then nothing has been done on the medical side. They have shunted out also in Denmark the health authorities both centrally and in local communities."

Impact on People Australia

The National Health and Medical Research Council began its review of so-called ''wind-turbine syndrome'' in September 2012 and the results are expected to be released in ''coming months''. Prime Minister Tony Abbott told commercial radio this month that research should be refreshed "from time to time" to consider whether there were "new facts that impact on old judgments".

Impact on People Australia

Hamish Cumming, a mechanical engineer and farmer whose Darlington property is near two other proposed wind farm projects, alleges incorrect information about the brolgas flocking and nesting near Chepstowe and Mt Gellibrand was knowingly provided to and accepted by the Department of Sustainability and Environment (now Department of Environment and Primary Industries), with staff gagged if they expressed concern.

Impact on Birds Legal Australia

Meanwhile, a purpose- built, gas-fired power station, designed to step in during peak demand is running at full capacity, according to operator Origin Energy. The region’s wind farms have been unable to alleviate demand pressures. A spokeswoman for AGL said the company’s 140 turbine Macarthur wind farm had limited output because of weather conditions.

General Australia