Energy

A Dunedin man's dream of manufacturing small wind turbines for domestic electricity production is in danger of being shelved for want of money.

High-pressure rock fracturing, or "fracking" is a technology to release rock-bound oil and gas for an increasingly energy-hungry world, but it has also become the call to arms for environmentalists. Business Reporter Simon Hartley looks at where the battle-lines are being drawn by the numerous fracking factions.

The value of 80 million tonnes of high quality export coal is about to weighed up against nationally endangered and vulnerable animals and other rare flora and fauna - all residing in and around the Denniston Plateau looming above Westport, on the West Coast.

A former Otago couple are out to take the energy bar market by storm.

The arrival from Germany this month of four new transformers at the Transpower high-voltage link at Benmore has given a boost to a $672 million upgrade of the electricity line between the North and South islands.

Kissing goodbye to your power bill is one of the dreams of the modern age - and it might not be as far off as we think. New energy technology using the sun to run the dishwasher and the big-screen TV is coming down in price so quickly it could be producing electricity at the same price as that available from the national grid in as little as five years. Mark Price reports.

Contact Energy Ltd is welcoming the granting of resource consents for 168 wind turbines and transmission lines to its proposed Hauauru ma raki wind farm in the Waikato.