Wind farm projects fees to be waived

Energy Matters0

Wind farm project fees to be waived


ABC August 17, 2009, 8:27 am

 





The New South Wales Government has announced that it will waive all project fees for investors wanting to build wind farms.


The Premier Nathan Rees says New South Wales is ready for the clean energy revolution.


He has announced a number of measures designed to boost investment in clean energy generation.


The Premier says wind farms that are at least 30 megawatts will be treated as critical infrastructure and planning decision will be made within four months.



 


The Government will also waive project fees until the middle of 2011.


New South Wales Climate Change Minister, Carmel Tebbutt, says the measures will help to attract clean energy projects to the state.


“We know that with the Federal Government introducing the renewable energy target scheme that we’re going to see some sisgnificant investment in this area,” she said.


“We’re making sure that NSW is ready to take a chunk of that investment.”


The New South Wales Greens M-P John Kaye, says the measures need to be extended further to make any difference.


“A 22 month holiday from development applications for wind farms is not long enough,” he said.


“It’ll just take us through to the next election. NSW is so far behind the ball on wind generation that we need much more than 22 months”


The Government’s announcement comes after the ABC revealed on Friday that project application fees for wind farms are about five time greater than for gas-fired power stations – based on their Megawatt capacity.




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