March 13, 2012
Australia

Wind farm industry worried about new guidelines

ABC Ballarat, www.abc.net.au 13 March 2012

Wind Farm developers will have to apply for new planning permits if they don’t begin construction this week. The Clean Energy Council says while it’s optimistic that previously approved projects will go ahead, the wind industry is anxious about new projects.

If wind farm companies haven’t begun construction of approved wind farms by Thursday, they will have to comply with stricter planning guidelines.

The Clean Energy Council’s acting chief executive Kane Thornton says it hopes projects that have been approved under the previous planning regime will go ahead.

“We remain optimistic that they will proceed under that previous planning approval,” Mr Thornton says.

There is concern across the industry about the impact of planning restrictions on new wind farm projects.

But Mr Thornton says it’s too early to say how many jobs would be lost.

“We know that a number of wind companies have put on hold their Victorian projects and are actively looking at projects interstate, in places like South Australia and New South Wales, and ultimately that means potential loss of jobs and investment in Victoria, but it’s really too early to put a number on that at this stage.”


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/03/13/wind-farm-industry-worried-about-new-guidelines/