September 27, 2010
Australia

Stalled Tasmanian wind farm restart still uncertain

By Ricky Roxas, International Business Times, www.ibtimes.com 26 September 2010

Joint venture partners Hydro Tasmania and Roaring 40s said on Monday that the suggestion made by a Tasmanian senator on the nearing restart of their $450 million wind farm project in the north-eastern part of Tasmania may be a little inaccurate.

The Musselroe wind farm already started work but the slow flow of investments forced Roaring 40s to temporarily halt the project in February yet in a statement released by Senator Guy Barnett it was indicated that construction activities of the project could resume by the mid-part of 2011.

The Tasmanian legislator said that his declaration of June resumption next year was supported by facts released to him by senior officials of both Hydro Tasmania and Roaring 40s.

However, Roaring 40s said that the senator may be jumping the gun as company representative Steve Symons stressed that “from our perspective it’s too early to be making a public commitment at this stage.”

Mr Symons pointed out that the company is very much confident in completing the Musselroe wind farm as he added that Roaring 40s is “looking to be in a position to be able to move forward with it as soon as we possibly can.”

He admitted that the project requires further funding prior to the resumption of any activities at Musselroe as he expressed confidence that “the market’s there and that Musselroe is a great project.”

Mr Symons revealed that a number of banks have expressed interest in working with the Musselroe wind farm, adding that Roaring 40s is currently negotiating with Hydro Tasmania and Tru Energy to iron out financing issues and pricing agreements.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/09/27/stalled-tasmanian-wind-farm-restart-still-uncertain/