Hobart Mercury
Saturday 12/6/2010 Page: 9
THE sale of wind turbines in Tasmania is booming, leading to the possible creation of a niche industry that could save manufacturing jobs. Wind turbines will be whirring on the roof of the Marine Board building within a month. The Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal cleared the way for the project in January by rejecting the Hobart City Council's appeal against a proposal by developer Robert Rockefeller. System designer and supplier I Want Energy said the high-profile project had sparked interest for similar installations around the state.
I Want Energy corporate manager Rob Manson said there were 12 residential installations in the pipeline, along with a large-scale installation at the Lindisfarne Medical Centre and Mr Rockefeller's second project on the ANZ building in Hobart's Elizabeth St. Currently turbines are being imported from Shanghai, but Mr Manson said his company had plans to set up a local manufacturing plant within a year. "Our goal is to snake an industry out of wind power with Tasmania being a windy place," he said.
Aluminium is one of the main components in the manufacture of turbines and the company is hoping to utilise the skills of aluminium welders who are set to be laid off at Austal's Margate shipyard. Engineering director Bruce Lipscombe said work on the 48-kW Marine Board building project would begin next week and could be completed by the end of the month The four vertical turbines will supply at least 10% of the building's energy needs. "The interest in wind energy has always been there but Robert Rockefeller's project has taken it from the urban fringe to a more mainstream and industrial scale." Mr Lipscombe said. "It has gone from being associated with dreadlocks and Kombi vans to having a realistic application for business."
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