Government support for energy blowing in the wind
"The New Zealand Wind Energy Association welcomes the Minister of Energy's
announcement that Kyoto credits will be offered to companies for two new
wind farms. This long awaited support has become essential as a kick-start
to solving New Zealand's post-Maui electricity shortage by renewable energy
sources" said Alistair Wilson, chairperson of New Zealand Wind Energy
Association.
"Performance of wind turbines in New Zealand is in the "fantastic" category
according to wind energy experts in Europe, where operation for 2,000 hours
per year at full load is considered a good wind farm site. New Zealand wind
farms can achieve 4,000 hours at full load.
"The rest of the world is already actively pursuing wind energy as a
solution to the climate change problem.
The attached joint press release from the American Wind Energy Association
and the European Wind Energy Association highlights why New Zealand needs to
move now on supporting wind energy.
Notes from AWEA / EWEA press release:
* there was a 28% increase in world wind power capacity installed in 2002.
* Wind power technology worth Euro6.8 billion was installed in 2002.
* NZ is not included in the attached chart. NZ has about 36MW of wind power
installed. There were no additional turbines installed in NZ in 2002.