Danish visitors puzzled by Victoria’s laws against wind farms

Wind turbine rules mystify Danes, The Age, Adam MortoNovember 26, 2011 The head of the world’s largest wind energy company has questioned the Baillieu government’s rationale for giving households veto rights over turbines within two kilometres of their homes.

Ditlev Engel, chief executive of Danish company Vestas, said he had ”no idea” where the policy had come from. Mr Engel, who is visiting Victoria with Crown Prince Frederik and Tasmanian-born Crown Princess Mary, said no one had explained the motivation for Victoria’s most restrictive regulations on turbines.

”I was asked the other day in Canberra where does that number come from, and I said I have no idea,” he said. ”Who found out that two kilometres was the magic number? ”In Denmark, when you have a wind turbine, in order to get approval, you need to be four times the height of the tip (away from a house). The tip height is 150-200 metres, so the distance from the turbine to where people live has got to be 600-800 metres. And that’s fine…..The wind energy industry has warned that the regulations, including turbine ”no-go” zones, would lead it to invest elsewhere, costing Victoria up to $3 billion.

Mr Engel backed opening wind farms to the public to dispel myths about wind power. Denmark generates a quarter of its energy from wind power. Vestas had turbine blade manufacturing plants in Victoria and Tasmania, but they closed in 2007 over policy uncertainty… http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/wind-turbine-rules-mystify-danes-20111125-1nzb0.html#ixzz1eqqTjYpA

November 26, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, Victoria, wind | wind

No comments yet.

1 This month

17 October, Free Public Talk on Nuclear Issues in South Australia

David Noonan will speak on public interest concerns over the new Roxby Downs Indenture Act 2026 on BHP copper-uranium mining and ore processing in SA, and on how AUKUS may face SA with a High-Level nuclear waste agenda.

Dr Jim Green will discuss international developments in the field of nuclear power including ‘small modular reactors’ and Generation 4 ‘advanced’ nuclear reactor concepts.