Monday 26 March 2007

The winds of change blowing in

Weekend Gold Coast Bulletin
Saturday 24/3/2007 Page: 69

ANOTHER rapid growth area in the field of renewable energy is wind farming, with construction of a wind farm 170km north of Adelaide due to begin next month. It's estimated that the energy from 42 turbines on the Hummock and Barunga ranges will produce power for 60,000 houses, adding to the 253Mv under construction and the 388Mv of wind power already produced in the state.

And for Queensland, the news gets even better. The contract to manufacture the wind turbines for the project has been secured by a Wacol-based company. Recognising some time ago that wind farming was the way of the future, the company decided to capitalise on the growing renewable energy market, and its foresight has been rewarded sooner than anticipated.

Australian involvement in the worldwide growth in wind farming projects is also evident, with a Sydney-based company recently investing $200 million in European and US wind farm projects. The new projects, with 11 farms in France and Germany alone, will go online by 2008 in the world's largest wind energy market. It would seem the generation and use of renewable energy - hardly a new concept - is rapidly becoming synonymous with modernity.

0 comments: