Costs may take wind out of bigger renewable energy plan

The skyrocketing cost of building materials may derail Western Power's plans to extend the Albany wind farm, in southern Western Australia.

Western Power announced in October it would investigate the feasibility of adding another seven turbines to the wind farm at a cost of about $30 million.

The extended wind farm would supply up to 90 per cent of Albany's electricity needs.

Renewable Energy director Paul Ebert says the public response to the project has been encouraging and there are not any technical reasons why it should not go ahead.

But Dr Ebert says he is concerned by unfavourable exchange rates and a spike in the price of materials.

"For example, copper has increased by 50 per cent in cost in the last six months and we use a lot of copper in cables and things like that, so all those costs are going up and that's putting a lot of pressure on the project," he said.