LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME


[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]

Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

Get weekly updates
RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Stripe

Donate via Paypal

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Wind farm pullout threat 

Plans for a $300 million wind energy investment along south-west Victoria is likely to be abandoned if the Liberal Party wins the November state election.

The threat to pull out of the Portland wind energy project by Pacific Hydro because the Opposition’s pledge to abandon plans for a new renewable energy scheme were yesterday dismissed by the party as a political stunt.

Garry Weaven, executive chairman of Industry Funds Services, owner of Pacific Hydro, told The Age the company’s Portland development faced shelving and the Opposition’s policy made contracts for wind farms impossible to find.

Pacific Hydro’s executive manager of government and corporate affairs Andrew Richards yesterday told The Standard despite Mr Weaven being a well-known unionist the company’s stance on the Portland project was not political.

Mr Richards said the Opposition had indicated it would repeal the Government’s new Victorian Renewable Energy Target (VRET) scheme which aims to have the state’s renewable energy use increased from 3.9 per cent to 10 per cent in 2016.

“With that it equated to about a $2 billion capital investment in Victoria and in Portland the Pacific Hydro project is worth about $250 to $300 million,” Mr Richards said.

He said Pacific Hydro was not the only company waiting for the outcome of the November election before making the final decision.

“At no stage have we backed away from the Portland project,” he said. “If the Liberal Party repeals the VRET a lot of renewable energy companies will not be making investments.”

The company’s stage one, the Yambuk wind farm is in the commissioning stage while stage two near Cape Bridgewater has planning permission for 33 turbines.

Stage three includes Cape Nelson and Cape Sir William Grant sites and would bring the company’s investment in the region to about $300 million.

Opposition Energy spokesman Phillip Davis said the threat was politically motivated by Mr Weaven and the party would not change its position on the energy target policy.

Mr Davis said under the Government’s plan consumers would subsidise the wind industry by $2 billion or about $60 a year per household every year, while the plan did nothing to abate greenhouse emissions.

He said the VRET legislation overall would cause job losses because of increased energy costs.

By Sarah Scopelianos

standard.net.au

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Contributions
   Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)
Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI M TG TS G Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook Wind Watch on Linked In

Wind Watch on Mastodon Wind Watch on Truth Social

Wind Watch on Gab Wind Watch on Bluesky