March 1, 2011
Australia

Turbines may face scrutiny

Charles Waterhouse, The Mercury, www.themercury.com.au 1 March 2011

New wind turbines for Hobart’s Marine Board building may require a fresh development application.

Sullivans Cove Waterfront Authority chief Hadley Sides said it would depend on how materially different new turbines were from what was installed.

In November last year, Keith Drew, architect for the building owner Robert Rockefeller, told the fMercuryf the new turbines should be up and running by mid-January.

But early in January the Mercury reported improved wind turbines scheduled to replace the troublesome ones on the building were expected to be a few months away because they were sitting in China.

Four wind turbines were installed on the building in July last year but two of them failed last August, causing $100,000 damage.

But Hobart alderman Ron Christie said the turbines should be removed.

“Those turbines are a dud, we have been tricked, Hobart has been tricked into being used as the guinea pig, we are being used as a testing ground for these verticals which I have researched,” he said.

“The worst turbines are the vertical uprights, it is the worst possible design.

“People at the wooden boat festival were calling them a blight on the landscape, a lot of visitors saw them, they are an absolute joke.”


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/03/01/turbines-may-face-scrutiny/