2016/12/15
After very little to report since Abbott, it seems that there is more afoot
on the wind farm front again: see
Yandin Wind Farm, WA;
Stockyard Hill, Victoria;
and
Silverton Wind Farm, NSW.
2015/07/03
After a long and depressing period of little news because of the
Abbott Government's war on renewable energy we
are now seeing some action again, following the settling of the shamefully
down-sized Renewable Energy Target.
Construction dates have been announced for the
Ararat Wind Farm in Victoria and
the
White Rock Wind Farm in NSW.
Construction started today on
Coonooer Bridge Wind Farm.
Final approval for
Bulgana Wind Farm was granted.
Something important that I missed until now was that
Cape Nelson North and
Cape Sir William
Grant" wind farms, near Portaland, Vic., were completed back in March.
April 2015
Council of Canadian Academies,
Understanding the Evidence: Wind Turbine
Noise –
Found evidence of a causal relationship between exposure to wind turbine
noise and annoyance and possibly sleep disturbance.
Insufficient evidence of any other link with health.
2015/02/09
ACT Government announced a power purchase agreement with three wind farms to
supply electricity toward their target of 90% renewables by 2020.
The wind farms were
Ararat,
Coonooer Bridge,
both in Victoria, and
Hornsdale, in SA.
2014/11/09
Health Canada released a
report showing,
basically, that wind turbines are harmless.
Stony Gap Wind Farm has been
approved by the courts after a long battle.
2014/10/29
600MW proposed wind farm on King Island,
TasWind scrapped by Hydro
Tasmanis.
Mid-North SA's wind farms make the region
carbon-negative.
2014/09/11
Mount Mercer WF is now
operating.
Boco Rock WF expected to start
generating soon.
2014/05/09
Granville Harbour
WF approved
2014/03/18
Flyers Creek Wind Farm
receives approval from the NSW Planning Assessment Commission.
2014/03/10
Snowtown 2 Wind Farm
passes half-way mark; 46 of intended 90 turbines now in operation.
2014/02/24
Australian National Health and Medical Research Council
reports on wind farms and
health.
2014/02/13
The giant 197-turbine Ceres Project
on Yorke Peninsula has had approval from the SA Government.
2014/01/30
Big (up to 110 turbines) wind farm proposed for near Lake George.
Canberra Times
2014/01/25
First foundations poured at
Boco Rock WF, in what is to
be NSW's biggest wind farm.
2013/12/19
New wind farm proposed for
Granville Harbour
in Tasmania.
A more equible benefit
arangement for wind farm neighbours has been proposed by Trust Power for
their mooted Palmer Wind Farm in SA.
Goldwind announced first power to the grid at
Gullen Range Wind Farm.
2013/12/09
41% of SA's wind power was
generated by wind turbines in the third quarter of 2013.
2013/12/06
Keyneton Wind Farm was approved
by the SA Government.
2013/12/03
Collector Wind Farm
approved in NSW
2013/11/26
Cherry Tree Wind Farm
approved in Victoria
South Australian EPA
reports on sound levels at
Waterloo Wind Farm
2013/11/25
Fiona Crichton's
study into positive and
negative expectations on symptoms and moods relating to wind turbine sound
released
2013/09/26
Palmer Wind Farm, to consist of
up to 130 x 3MW turbines, proposed about 50km east of Adelaide.
2013/09/12
Pacific Hydro announced funding for its
Portland Wind Energy Project.
2013/09/05
Liberals release energy policy; more power to
coal, gas and nuclear; and making it harder for renewables.
2013/09/04
Bodangora Wind Farm receives
approval from NSW Planning Assessment Commission.
The AEMO has reported that in 2012/13
27%
of South Australia's electricity was generated by wind power.
Modifications to the proposed SA
Barn Hill Wind Farm have been
approved.
2013/08/27
Construction to start on
Ararat Wind Farm in September.
International Monetary Fund gives figures for the huge
subsidies going to
the Australian fossil fuel industries.
2013/08/15
Early work construction on
Boco Rock Wind Farm (NSW) has
started.
2013/08/14
The first of the 90 turbines of
Snowtown Stage 2 (SA) is
in place.
Union Fenosa Australia have announced that early construction works at
Berrybank (Vic.) will
commence this month.
2013/07/25
Sapphire Wind Farm has been
approved.
2013/07/24
Conditional approval has been given for a part of
Flat Rocks Wind Farm in
southern WA.
2013/06/24
King Island vote on whether to go to the feasibility stage of the 200-turbine
wind farm was 59% in favour.
Hydro Tasmania has said that it will go ahead.
Reported on ABC On-line news earlier today.
2013/06/18
Canberra anti-wind rally was a flop and was dwarfed by a pro-renewables rally
held the same day; see
here.
Waterloo Wind Farm Stage
2 gets the go-ahead from local council.
2013/06/14: new ownership model
Coonooer Wind Farm,
proposed in the Bendigo area, is to have a hybrid community/corporate
ownership.
2013/05/02: Wind farm operating
It seems that Mumbida Wind Farm
in WA is operational.
2013/04/30: Construction starts
It was announced today that earthworks had begun on
Lal Lal Wind Farm.
2013/04/24: First power
ABC on-line news, 2013/04/23, reported that
Musselroe Wind Farm was
"feeding power into the state's electricity grid for the first time".
2013/04/14
Evidence on land values
Now that there are over fifty wind farms in Australia it is possible to
show that wind farms do not adversely impact land values by looking at
data
supplied by the real estate industry.
2013/03/16
Two new informative documents
Fiona Crichton (et. al.) has published a
study showing
that people who are under the impression that they will become ill due to
infrasound, and are then told that they are being subjected to infrasound,
are likely to experience adverse symptoms.
Simon Chapman (et. al.) has published a
study
on the history of health and noise complaints.
2013/02/28
Youth of the Year speech; a young person's view on a nearby wind farm.
This is so different to the rubbish that comes from the typical wind power
opponent, who is typically at least 50 years old and willing to repeat
anything that seems to support their preconceptions.
2013/02/26
NSW Farmers have released a
Guide for farmers regarding wind farms.
The guide is generally positive.
Carmodys Hill Wind Farm
planning permit renewal refused by local council.
2013/02/10
9 wind power lies in one sentence
Would-be PM Abbott's chief advisor squeezes
nine fallacies about wind
power into one sentence.
This surprised me.
What amazed me though, was that no-one else seemed surprised.
Have we sunk so low?
2013/02/05
New report on infrasound by SA EPA
The South Australian Environment Protection Agency reported that nearby
wind turbines do not add significantly to
infrasound in
houses.
Dr Sarah Laurie was interviewed regarding this, tried to play-down the
report's results, and in the process made several serious
errors.
2013/01/18
Construction starts on Victorian wind farm
On-ground works have started at
Mount Mercer.
Upgrade interconnector
ABC News 2013/01/17 announced that ElectraNet is to "upgrade the Heywood
substation and reconfigure the south-eastern [South Australian] network at a
cost of $108 million".
This will "pave the way for more South Australian wind energy to be
transferred interstate, opening the door for more investment in the
technology."
2012/12/11
Construction starts on Victorian wind farm
I hadn't noticed that construction had started on
Bald Hills until yesterday.
2012/11/29
Construction starts on NSW wind farm
Construction has started on Gullen Range Wind Farm.
Big wind farm in Bass Strait proposed
Hydro Tasmania has proposed what could be the biggest wind farm in Australia on
King Island.
2012/11/22
Origin and EnergyAustalia bag wind power
These two big electricity companies have been trying to convince Australians
that development of wind power should be slowed.
This should not surprise us because they are both heavily involved in the
fossil fuel industry.
They are probably fearful that wind power will eat into the profitablilty
of their fossil-fueled power stations.
The Murdoch press is, of
course, lapping it up because they are heavily opposed to sustainable energy.
Chinese turbine manufacturer takes an interest in Oz
I received an email from someone from
Ming Yang, just
announcing their interest in getting a piece of the local action.
2012/10/13
On ground work at SA wind farm
Roads and hardstands are being constructed at
Snowtown Stage 2 Wind
Farm.
2012/10/08
Name change
TRUenergy have changed their name to Energy Australia
2012/10/06
New community wind farm
Construction is underway on the
Denmark Wind Farm on the
south-west coast of WA
Wind farm opponent caught encouraging people to
lie
An opponent of
Waterloo Wind Farm was caught
sending an email to around 100 people asking them to inform the local
councils that they were suffering from sleeplessness and illnesses due to
wind turbines.
This was reported on Adelaide Now, 2012/10/06.
2012/10/01
First power
The first power from
Macarthur Wind Farm went into
the grid over the weekend of 2012/09/29-30.
2012/09/09
NSW government change-of-heart?
The NSW government has set a 20% renewable energy by 2020.
This is greatly at odds with their previous anti-renewable energy stance.
Can we believe the NSW government's apparent about-face?
2012/09/04
Construction to start on another wind farm
Meridian Energy has announced that construction on
Mount Mercer Wind Farm
will commence in December.
2012/08/28
TRUenergy appeals DAP decision
Victorian project abandoned
TRUenergy has appealed the Development Assessment Panel's decision to
disallow Stony Gap Wind Farm.
I've heard on the grapevine that Origin have abandoned the
Lexton Wind Farm.
2012/08/02
Planning permission refused on one wind farm, contract signed on another,
and turbines possibly to be shut down overnight on a third
A Development Assessment Panel refused approval for
Stony Gap Wind Farm in SA,
Trust Power signed up Siemens to build
Snowtown Stage 2, also
in SA; while in Queensland legal action over noise might force the sutting
down of three turbines overnight at
Windy Hill (commissioned
in 2000).
2012/07/18
NSW wind farm approved, WA proposal dropped
White Rock Wind Farm has
received government approval.
The proposed Clifton Wind Farm
in WA has been dropped due to community opposition (much of which was based
on missinformation and ignorance);
2012/07/06
Two big wind farms
Verve have stated their intention of building the 250MW
Warragarge Wind farm in WA
and the
Hornsdale WF in SA has
received approval from the Minister.
2012/06/09
New community wind farm proposed
An 8-turbine 6.4MW wind farm is proposed at
Freemantle, WA
2012/06/08
SE SA wind farm approved
It was announced today that the 153 turbine
Woakwine Wind Farm
received approval by the final council involved.
2012/06/01
Progress on Hornsdale
On 2012/05/24 the SA Development Assessment Commission resolved to recommend
that the minister approve
Hornsdale Wind Farm in
Mid North South Australia.
2012/05/27
Pacific Hydro's Clements
Gap Wind Farm is back online after maintenance work on the substation.
REVE announced that Trustpower has applied to SA's Essential Services
Commission for permission to go ahead with
Snowtown Stage 2.
2012/05/09
Origin getting serious about Stockyard Hill?
Origin are requesting proposals about their huge
Stockyard Hill Wind Farm.
2012/05/06
Taralga WF construction
Wind Power Intelligence announced that
Taralga Wind Farm construction
had started; but there are questions.
2012/05/02
Snowtown 2 construction close
Trust Power have produced a media release for
Snowtown Stage 2 Wind
Farm.
It will consist of 90 Siemens 3MW turbines in two separate groups.
Trust Power has a power purchase agreement with Origin.
Together, Snowtown 1 and Snowtown 2, will be the second biggest wind farm
in Australia (following Macarthur).
2012/05/01
Local warming from turbines
Nature Climate Change published a paper
recording local warming due to some big Texan wind farms.
It is important to note that this
warming is very local and is due to the
redistribution of heat in different layers in the air, it is not a net
heating and is quite distinct from global warming.
2012/04/19
Dandaragan gets approval
Dandaragan, at 513MW, if
built in the near future, will be the biggest in Australia.
Macarthur, under construction
in Victoria, will be 420MW.
2012/04/05
Origin drop wind farm
Origin have dropped the
Crystal Brook Wind Farm
that got Dr Sarah Laurie started on her ill-advised campaign.
2012/03/26
Lights off at Waubra
48 of the 128 turbines at
Waubra are fitted with air
navigation lights; they are to be switched off.
2012/03/23
Unintended consequences
The Victorian 2km exclusion zone law has had the consequence of the
construction
of five wind farms being brought foreward; and the unintended consequences
don't stop there.
AGL has bought the rights to
Silverton Wind Farm and
intends to start construction in 2013.
Reported by The Age and REVE.
2012/03/20
SA's wind power gets ahead of coal
EnergyQuest announced that
wind power in SA reached
26% of total electricity generation in 2011; coal made up 25%.
2012/02/28
Pacific Hydro branches out
They are going into the electricity retailing business.
"http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/
pachydro-to-take-on-energy-retailers-at-their-own-game-91047" - no spaces in
URL
2012/02/25
AGL action in Mid North SA
First Stanwell held an information day about
Barn Hill Wind Farm, then
Transfield, now the latest owner, AGL, has announced an information day at
Redhill on 2012/03/03.
Two wind farm approvals in Victoria
The Warrnambool Standard carried an article today announcing that
ministerial approval had been given to
Hawkesdale and
Ryan Corner wind farms.
Adelaide Now carried an article announcing that Renewable
Energy Commissioner Tim O'Loughlin's position has been terminated 18 months
early.
The Renewable Energy Fund had been scrapped earlier, with more than half
being unspent.
2012/02/08
Wind farm under construction in WA
Construction has started on
Mumbida Wind Farm.
2012/02/03
Wind farm construction date announced
Construction of Boco Rock WF
is to begin in the third quarter of this year.
2012/01/29
Epuron has a new Net site
Epuron's new Net site is Australia-based and a great improvement over the old site.
Consequently most of my entries on Epuron's wind farms have been
updated.
2012/01/25
New construction announced
Acciona are to start construction of
Mount Gellibrand Wind
Farm in March according to an article in The Age.
2012/01/24
Climate and Health Alliance Position Paper
The CAHA released a Position Statement on
health and wind turbines today.
2012/01/22
Isobel Redmond joins
Liberal's war against renewable
energy
(She is the leader of the Liberal Opposition in South Australia.)
She was reported several places as saying that "[Wind power is] probably
the least efficient and most unreliable of all the green energy sources".
Will these lies go unrefuted by the renewable energy industry?
2012/01/21
Major study released from USA
Massachusetts (USA) Dept. of Public Health wind turbine impact study;
report by an impressive expert panel, January 2012.
Difficult to summarise in a few words, but suggests no direct adverse
health effects from turbines.
2012/01/17
Pacific Hydro and CSIRO reports favourable to wind power
In November 2011 Pacific Hydro surveyed
attitudes to wind energy in ten communities across Victoria, NSW and SA where
wind farms were operating or proposed.
The main result was 83% support, 14% opposed, 3% undecided.
A few days before the Pac. Hydro report,
CSIRO released a report,
"Acceptance of Rural Windfarms in Australia: a snapshot".
Some of its key findings were:
1. There is strong community support for wind farms
2. There is more support than suggested by media reports
3. Wind farmers might improve acceptance by developing a 'Social licence to
Operate' approach.
I have become aware that another survey of wind power acceptance was
carried out for the Clean Energy Council, and while the results have not
yet been officially released, the results showed in the vicinity of a 75%
acceptance of wind farms.
2012/01/06
SA Liberal policy on wind farms
SA Liberal opposition
first said they will ban any turbine within 5km of any house, then changed
that to 2km from a house and 5km from a town.
2012/01/05
Construction to start on Vic. wind farm
Article in Weekly Times stating that on ground work will start on
Salt Creek WF in March.
2012/01/02
Turbine shut-down at Hallett
Sixteen of the 34 Hallett #2 Wind Farm turbines were being
shut-down
overnight because of noise problems.
They have since been returned to full operation.
2011/12/15
Another wind farm under construction
Goldwind has started construction on Victoria's
Morton's Lane Wind Farm.
$500k grant for wind turbine noise research
Prof colin hansen of adelaide university has received a $500k Australian
Research Centre grant over three-years for a project titled "Quantifying
the impact of wind farm noise on rural communities"
2011/12/13
AGL taking an interest in Silverton Wind Farm
Originally over 500 turbines were mooted for
Silverton in the far west
of NSW, now AGL have mentioned 80 to 100 (Barrier Daily Truth 2011/12/09).
2011/12/12
Macarthur 50% complete
The first of 140 wind turbines has been installed at
Macarthur (Vic.) Wind Farm.
Grasmere, WA, in testing phase
From Craig Carter of Verve Energy;
"All six Enercon 2.3MW E-70 wind turbines have been installed are are
undergoing trial operation."
See Grasmere; it is an extension
of Albany Wind Farm
2011/12/10
Musselroe at last!
Hydro Tasmania will begin (re-commence?) work on
Musselroe (Tas.) this month.
India Infoline reported that Vestas has received an order to supply turbines.
Collgar completed
Collgar, near Merredin in the WA
Wheat Belt, is now the third largest
wind farm in Australia - after Hallett and Lake Bonney.
SA falls below 50%
With the completion of Collgar (doubling WA's wind power -
see graph) SA has fallen
to just below half of Australia's installed wind power -
see graph.
Installed capacity in Oz is now 2476 MW, SA has 1205 MW.
Capital 2 approved
Capital 2 WF, NSW, has received
approval.
2011/12/02
I have been on holiday for a month and a half.
I'm intending to get seriously into updating these pages in the next few
days and weeks, starting with looking into the reasons behind the
decision to shut down the turbines at
Hallett #2 wind farm overnight.
2011/10/17
Infigen co-op owned turbine
Infigen Energy are trying to include one
community owned turbine in its
Flyers Creek Wind Farm.
2011/09/22
Useful publication on wind turbine health effects
Loren D. Knopper and Christoper A. Ollson in
'Health
Effects and Wind Turbines: A Review of the Literature'; Environmental
Health (impact factor given as 2.45), 2011/09/14.
Recommended reading.
"To date, no peer reviewed articles demonstrate a direct causal
link between people living in proximity to modern wind turbines, the noise
they emit and resulting physiological health effects."
2011/09/09
Hornsdale Wind Farm proposed
Investec have announced plans to build a 300 MW
wind farm in SA's Mid North.
2011/08/31
Suzlon propose new wind farm
Suzlon have proposed a big wind farm (the Ceres Project) at
Ardrossan on Yorke Peninsula
of South Australia.
2011/08/25
Moyne Shire knocks back extensions for Hawkesdale and Ryan Corner
Warrnambool Standard, today
"Moyne mayor Jim Doukas said many renewable energy developers had become
arrogant and believed the council decision was a warning to other project
operators.
He said councillors were unimpressed with how Union Fenosa consulted
council and the wider community."
See "http://www.standard.net.au/news/local/news/general/
moyne-shire-axes-arrogant-wind-farm-projects/2269691.aspx?storypage=1",
(no spaces in URL).
Liberals don't want to do anything about climate change?
In Victoria the Liberal government has placed in force
new laws that will make
further wind power development very difficult.
Federal, NSW, and WA Liberals have also shown
indications of climate change skepticism or wanting no action on climate
change.
2011/08/10
Lights out at Snowtown
After a long delay the air navigation lights on the
Snowtown WF are to be turned
off progressively over August and September.
2011/07/16
Willogoleche Hill WF gets approval
International Power had approval for 26 turbines at
Willogoleche Wind Farm,
but recently sought and received approval to increase that to 37 turbines.
New England community wind farm
ABC on-line news announced that "a six month study has found that there is
more than enough support in the New England Region to establish a
community wind farm".
Eight turbines have been mooted.
See Starfish enterprise
network.
2011/07/04
Senate report confuses seismic waves with infrasound
Section 2.11 of the Senate report quotes an Italian
seismic paper and calls it infrasound.
More at Seismic.
Also see Senate
inquiry into rural wind farms.
2011/07/03
New life in old proposal
Acciona has activated the Victorian
Mount Gellibrand WF
proposal that has been dormant for several years.
I am seeking more information.
2011/06/30
Construction of S95 underway
Suzlon's prototype S95 turbine is being erected at
Snowtown WF in SA.
2011/06/27
First power from Bluff Range
I had an email from Tim Knill of AGL telling me that the first power
flowed from Bluff Range WF
into the electricity grid on 2011/06/25.
Gunning WF completed
Following an inquiry I received email notification that Acciona had completed
Gunning WF in May.
Acciona's Net page is still talking future tense: "Expected completion date:
mid 2011".
2011/06/26
Contract on WA wind farm
A contract for supply of turbines has been signed for
Mumbida WF.
2011/06/26
ERD Court upholds appeal against wind farm
An appeal against Allendale Wind Farm has been upheld by
the Environment Resources and Development (ERD) Court on the grounds of
visual amenity.
Premier Rann has expressed concern on this precedent in SA Parliament.
Hepburn puts first power into the grid
More on my page, including a
link to Hepburn Wind.
Senate report is out
The report by the Senate into the economic and environmental impact of rural wind farms
has been released, after several delays.
2011/06/19
First power from Collgar and Woodlawn
A press release dated 2011/05/14 stated that the first power from
Collgar
wind farm had been fed into the WA grid; see
Collgar WF.
Infigen announced that they had successfully exported electricity generated
from the first of their
Woodlawn wind turbines, in
NSW, to the grid on 2011/06/14.
First power from Bluff Range,
in SA, is expected by the end of the month.
2011/06/01
Blow to wind power on Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula is not a long way from population centres, has a huge
untapped wind energy resource, but no high capacity transmission lines.
An article in Adelaide Now, "http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/
renewable-energy-left-up-in-the-air/story-e6frede3-1226066815367" (no
spaces in URL), said that a ruling by the Australian Energy Market
Commission on Energy would make development of the resource in the near
future much less likely.
2011/05/29
Installed wind power per capita
South Australia has more
wind power,
per capita, than any nation on earth.
(I know, I'm comparing apples with oranges, but it's impressive anyway.)
SA is just ahead of Denmark and well ahead of any other Australian state
(Tasmania is second, WA a poor third).
2011/05/21
Big wind farm proposed for Williams, WA
Semephore Energy (who are they?) have received permission from the Shire of
Williams to erect a wind monitoring mast.
They have mentioned 69 turbines each 194m (sic) high and are talking $1b.
There seems to be no more information available at present.
2011/05/20
New study shows EROI for wind power about 25
A paper by Ida Kubiszewski, Cutler J. Cleveland and Peter K. Endres
published in Elsevier's Renewable Energy Journal based on data from 119
wind farms showed that wind turbines produce about 25 times as much energy
as is consumed in their contruction and operation.
This is called the
Energy Return On Investment (EROI) ratio.
2011/05/19
Victorian wind farm approved
Chepstowe Wind Farm was approved
by the relevant minister.
2011/05/15
New prototype turbines at Hallett and Snowtown
A Suzlon S95, 2.1MW turbine is to be trialled at each of
Hallett (#5, Bluff Range) and
Snowtown wind farms.
Suzlon claims increased yield (judging from the power curve this occurs only
at low wind speeds) and improved return on investment, among other
improvements.
2011/04/30
First turbine completed at Bluff Range
The first turbine is up at AGL's
Hallett #5 Wind Farm.
There is a photo (via AGL's web cam) on my page.
2011/04/24
Flurry of wind farm proposals in NSW
Wind Prospect and Epuron have recently submitted Preliminary Environmental
Assessments for a number of wind farms in NSW.
SA seems saturated until new transmission lines are built, Victoria's new
government is making life hard for wind farmers; is NSW the only state
remaining attractive?
See below for more details.
2011/04/21
China in and out
China Datang Corp has arranged joint ventures for developing $3b worth of
wind and solar in Oz in the next three years and $6b in the next eight years.
See Business China.
At the same time Roaring 40s Chinese joint venture partner, China Light and
Power, has pulled out.
Above company to develop Taralga Wind Farm with joint venture partner CBD.
Collgar connects to the grid
Western Power announced completion of a $20m project connecting
Collgar to the grid on 2011/04/20.
2011/04/15
Collaby Hill WF becomes Crystal Brook WF
Origin have reduced the size of their proposed Collaby Hill Wind Farm and
renamed it
Crystal Brook Wind Farm.
It was originally to consist of about 90 turbines, this became 70, and now 40.
Origin have released an information sheet on their new proposal.
2011/04/12
20% by 2020?
My calculations indicate that the rate of construction of wind farms is
only about half of that required to reach Australia's stated target of
20% renewable energy
by 2020.
2011/04/07
First base poured at Macarthur
The Warrnambool Standard announced the first base was to be poured at
Macarthur.
2011/04/05
Suzlon to take over REpower
Tulsi R. Tanti, chairman and managing director of Suzlon Energy, has announced
that Suzlon now owns over 95% of German wind turbine company REpower, and
will move to 'sqeeze out' minor share holders to get 100% ownership.
The two companies are to be operated independently for the present.
2011/04/01
No damage to wind turbines in Japan
WWEA (World Wind Energy Association) news said that "According to data
provided by the Japan Wind Power Association, no wind turbine in Japan
was damaged by the recent earthquake and by the tsunami [2011/03/11].
As of the end of 2010, Japan had a total installed wind capacity of 2304 MW,
with 1746 wind turbines."
Apparently there was one off-shore wind farm, Kamisu, 300km from the earthquake
epicenter and 40m (do they mean 40km?) from the shore.
Three weeks after the quake the seven-turbine farm was operating.
2011/03/26
Mt Barker turbines are "now spinning"
Mount Barker Wind Farm
has started operating.
At the same time it was on ABC on-line news that the second (and final)
turbine of
Hepburn Wind Farm was nearing
completion.
2011/03/06
Major new wind farm proposed in Goulburn region
Epuron have applied for planning approval for 80-100 turbine
Rye Park Wind Farm near Boorowa,
50km NNW of Yass.
AGL postones $2b wind farm projects
Wind Power Monthly reported this 2011/02/24.
AGL stated that the problem was low REC prices due to government inaction.
"The company said the situation would remain until after 2014 or 2015.
AGL chief executive Michael Fraser said the company would not commit to
future wind projects until the REC market started to recover."
Epuron announces three new wind farms
In addition to the Rye Park project Epuron have apparently announced one at
Glen Innes and another in the Hunter Valley.
I'm trying to get more information on the latter two.
2011/02/24
Construction close at Macarthur
ABC Western Victoria announced on 2011/02/21 that AGL will begin ground
works in March and start erecting turbines in August.
2011/02/22
Energisation of
Mount Barker WF imminent
Andrew Woodroffe, one of the directors of SkyFarming, informed me by email
today that energisation is possible by 2nd of March.
2011/02/18
Opening of Waterloo Wind Farm
Premier Mike Rann officially opened the wind farm in front of an invited
audience yesterday; an open day for all comers is to be held tomorrow.
2011/02/16
Major repair at Snowtown Wind Farm
I just happened to notice that the nacelle was missing from the top of one
of the Snowtown turbines.
Getting a huge crane in and removing the nacelle for repairs must be an
expensive exercise.
2011/01/30
Pro-wind campagn by Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth have started a
pro wind power campagn to
counter the growing anti-wind lobby.
If you believe, as I do, that wind power is an important part of the answer
to the climate change problem, please support the FoE campagn.
Also, you can get bumper stickers, 'Wind Power. A real solution to
climate change' free of charge, from cam.walker@foe.org.au.
2011/01/29
More court cases
The ERD Court decision in favour of
Mt Bryan Wind Farm has
been appealed to the Supreme Court, and the proposed
Allendale Wind Farm has been
taken to the ERD Court by a dairy farmer.
2011/01/20
Decline in the price of renewable energy certificates slows wind energy
development
It is seeming less and less likely that Australia will reach the
Federal Government's stated target of
20% renewable energy by
2020.
2011/01/09
Suzlon and WindLab propose new wind farm in NSW
See Rugby Wind Farm
Big year for wind world-wide
From Renewable Energy World.com...
"According to the latest BTM 'World Market Update' report, approximately
23 000 turbines, capable of generating more than 38 GW of wind energy,
were installed worldwide in 2009, pushing the global total to a figure in
excess of 160 GW – a record year for the industry.
Over the course of the year, Europe lost its title as the largest wind
power continent, installing 28.2% of 2009's global capacity, down from a
figure of 51% three years previous.
The Americas picked up some of the slack coming in with 30% of the year's
total, up from 11.3% the previous year.
But far in the lead was Asia, which saw a growth rate of 59% on year, and
accounted for 41% of global installations during the year."
2010/11/29
RES's Ararat Wind Farm
approved 2010/10/22
RES is on about a huge wind farm near Hamilton (Penshurst) and
Synergy is talking about a small wind farm near Wanthaggi (St Clair).
2010/11/17
First turbine up at Gunning
Wind Farm
The Crookwell Gazette reported today that the first turbine was completed on
12th.
2010/11/10
Community funding
Many wind farmers provide generous
community funding, so far as
I have been able to find out, Meridian do not provide any for the community
around their Mount Millar
Wind Farm in SA, although they do fund communities in NZ.
Will they donate anything toward the community around their big
Macarthur Wind Farm?
And I should add that, so far as I know, Infigen, Transfield, Energy
Infrastructure Trust and Acciona don't provide community funding either.
2010/11/09
Two more Victorian wind farms approved
Moorabool and
Yaloak wind farms were given
the thumbs-up by the Victorian Government.
The Croockwell Gazette published an article stating that the aviation
lighting on the wind farm towers were switched off on November 1st, 2010.
Lights had previously been switched off on Hallett and Clements Gap
turbines in SA.
2010/11/06
SA has more than half the wind power in Oz, and Mid-North SA is generating
more than half SA's wind power
With Waterloo and
North Brown Hill
wind farms recently coming on-line SA now has more installed wind power than
the whole of the remainder of
Australia,
and the wind farms of Mid-North SA (my home turf) are
generating more power
than all the other wind farms in SA combined.
(I'll enjoy it while it lasts!)
Part of a visionary "clean energy corridor" proposal coming from Bob Katter,
but also having Federal Minister Ferguson's name on it.
2010/11/03
SA has
more than half
of Australia's installed wind power, but construction
in SA is slowing and other states are set to take up the slack
At present there are 2120MW of operating wind farms in Oz, 1150MW (54%) of
which is in SA.
Outside of SA there are the proposed Transfield projects (below);
Collgar (WA, 206MW) and
Macarthur (Vic. 420MW) wind
farms are under construction, construction of
Musselroe (Tas. 129MW)
looks like recommencing in Mid 2011 and
Stockyard Hill
(Vic. 471MW) has just received approval.
In SA little
Bluff Range (53MW) is
the only wind farm under construction and there is nothing more that seems
likely to be built in the near future.
Crystal Brook (about 140MW),
Stony Gap
(about 130MW),
and Barn Hill (about
150MW) will probably happen, but not very soon.
SA's problem is the lack of spare capacity in
transmission lines where the best wind resources are and a lack of
government will to build the needed new transmission lines.
2010/10/28
Several Transfield wind farms more likely to happen
Transfield Services are up to the flora and fauna, noise and visual impacts,
cultural heritage, traffic, aeronautical and telecommunications studies
stage with
Baynton (Vic. 150MW?),
Ben More (Vic. 130MW?),
Collector (NSW 160MW?) and
High Road (Qld 40MW?) wind
farms.
I've taken several of these projects off my never-never lists and put them
on my main lists.
2010/09/05
The development of the best of the wind resources of Eyre Peninsula,
including a new 'green grid' at a total cost of $4.5b has been discussed
by Tim O'Loughlin (SA Commissioner for Renewable Energy), Macquarie Capital
and Premier Mike Rann.
See Eyre Peninsula
wind project
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