Multibillion-dollar wind projects in Austrailia bite the dust

As much as $6.4 billion worth of wind energy projects will have to be shelved as a result of the energy statement released yesterday by Prime Minister John Howard. Under the new energy policy, the mandatory renewable energy target - which funds technologies such as wind farms and biomass electricity generators - will not be increased. As a result, many wind farms, planned with the expectation that the target would be increased, will not be economically viable. A spokesman for the Australian Wind Energy Association said its recent survey, using publicly available data, showed there were plans to install 5000 megawatts of wind generation in the next decade, at an estimated cost of $8 billion.

However, with the renewable energy target to remain as is, only about 1000 megawatts, worth $1.6 billion, would be installed, he said. Renewable energy company Pacific Hydro, which has wind farms near Ararat and Warrnambool and plans to start building the 180-megawatt Portland wind development later this year, will significantly cut investment plans as a result of the decision. Spokesman Andrew Richards said the company had plans to construct $750 million worth of wind farms in Victoria and South Australia. These would go ahead and plans for a wind-generator blade factory in western Victoria were still in place. But an extra $1.5 billion in likely projects would be abandoned and the company would focus more on expanding its overseas interests. "We're very disappointed, Mr Richards said. "It's a lost opportunity for the industry to establish itself. With no (new) markets, a lot of projects won't go ahead."

Victoria's plans to boost its wind-power capacity ten-fold to 1000 megawatts by 2006 look set to fail. Victorian Energy Minister Theo Theophanous said the Government would have to "closely look at what the energy statement means" for its renewable energy plans.