Senate sees sense on wind farm moratorium

www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au
9 Feb 2012

Any moratorium on wind farm development would drive billions of dollars of investment out of Australia and hurt farmers and regional communities, the renewable energy industry's peak body said today. The Clean Energy Council said a moratorium on new wind farms, called for by Democratic Labor Party Senator John Madigan and Independent Senator Nick Xenophon in the Senate yesterday, would hurt rural towns and businesses.

"Wind farms bring investment to regional towns and help farmers diversify to support their businesses and families", said Clean Energy Council acting Chief Executive Kane Thornton. "Placing a moratorium on wind farms would remove this source of support to regional and rural communities. "This would be particularly irresponsible given the fact there have been many credible health studies all over the world and none has ever found that wind turbines can directly cause health problems", he said.

Mr Thornton said wind power was one of the safest and cleanest sources of power available and it was unfortunate Senators Madigan and Xenophon were apparently being influenced by a vocal minority of anti-wind farm activists. "However, we were heartened to see common sense prevail yesterday and the Senators' call for a moratorium removed by the Coalition with the support of the Senate". Mr Thornton said wind farms currently proposed in Australia had the potential to generate up to $15 billion worth of investment across the country and create nearly 10,000 direct jobs. "Wind power will be critical in enabling Australia to meet its Renewable Energy Target of 20% by 2020 at the lowest cost possible.

"We call on elected representatives around Australia to get the full story on wind power before drawing conclusions and making statements that hurt the very people they are meant to be helping. "We urge governments, oppositions, minor parties and independents to ensure they consider recent research across Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia showing that more than 80% of people support wind farms".

Mr Thornton said over the 12 months to October last year, Australia's 1188 wind turbines generated enough electricity to power the equivalent of more than 900,000 homes. "Figures released this week from the Global Wind Energy Council showed that more than 41,000 MWs of wind power was rolled out across the world in 2011, despite tough financial conditions. This equates to more than 13,000 wind turbines", he said. "It makes no sense to put the brakes on in Australia when more than 75 countries around the world are embracing this technology of the future".