Wind farm plan dumped

Age
Thursday 16/8/2007 Page: 5

ENERGY giant AGL has dumped a controversial $140 million wind farm planned for South Gippsland. The company put the 48-turbine Dollar wind farm on hold last October and yesterday confirmed it was pulling out altogether. AGL said the project was less financially attractive than others under consideration. The project, near Foster, had been strongly opposed by Gippsland residents.

AGL has planning approval for another wind farm, between Macarthur and Hawkesdale in western Victoria, which will be the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere. The project would have contributed 79 megawatts to the State Government's target of 10 per cent renewable energy by 2016. Energy Minister Peter Batchelor's spokesman, Bill Kyriakopoulos, said the Government remained committed to the target.