Wind turbine rules mystify Danes

The head of the world’s largest wind energy company has questioned the Baillieu government’s rationale for giving households veto rights over turbines within two kilometres of their homes.

Ditlev Engel, chief executive of Danish company Vestas, said he had ”no idea” where the policy had come from.

Mr Engel, who is visiting Victoria with Crown Prince Frederik and Tasmanian-born Crown Princess Mary, said no one had explained the motivation for Victoria’s most restrictive regulations on turbines.

”I was asked the other day in Canberra where does that number come from, and I said I have no idea,” he said. ”Who found out that two kilometres was the magic number?

”In Denmark, when you have a wind turbine, in order to get approval, you need to be four times the height of the tip (away from a house). The tip height is 150-200 metres, so the distance from the turbine to where people live has got to be 600-800 metres. And that’s fine.

The government has said the two-kilometre buffer zone had been long-standing Coalition policy based on studies of planning schemes overseas.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/wind-turbine-rules-mystify-danes-20111125-1nzb0.html#ixzz1esqILm7H