February 17, 2011
Australia

Sixth mid-north wind farm and more planned

ABC News, www.abc.net.au 17 February 2011

A new wind farm has been officially opened in the mid-north of South Australia amid protest from disgruntled residents.

Premier Mike Rann arrived at the Waterloo wind farm, south of Clare, as about a dozen residents yelled in protest and waved signs reading “we can’t sleep”.

Roaring 40s has built 37 wind turbines which it says will power about 46,000 properties.

It is the sixth wind farm in the mid-north region. Roaring 40s says plenty of locals support the venture.

The Premier said renewable energy now provided 18.8 per cent of SA’s power requirements and it was planned to reach 33 per cent by 2020.

Mr Rann said two more wind farms were on way for the mid-north.

Roaring 40s wants to put additional turbines at the Waterloo site and is keen to build wind farms at Stony Gap and Robertstown.

Ally Fricker from the Stop Industrial Turbines group says there are concerns about possible health effects.

“We simply don’t want any more wind farms across the mid-north,” she said.

“There’s more than enough already and they’ve been approved without the full implications being understood.

“We have many concerns about the scale and the number of wind farms now going up so, you know, if they all went ahead there would very few places in the mid-north where you could sit or stand at an elevated level where you would not be seeing some turbines.”

Mr Rann has rejected the health arguments.

“There’s 100,000 turbines around the world and there has been study after study and there have been no negative health impacts,” he said.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/02/17/sixth-mid-north-wind-farm-and-more-planned/