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Italian police close in on windmill scam
Rome (AFP) Nov 12, 2009 Italian police are closing in on a scam involving wind farms in Sicily, Sardinia and the southern Naples region, a spokesman said Thursday. Four arrest warrants have been issued in the probe codenamed "Gone With the Wind," begun in 2007, Commander Mario Imparato told AFP from Avellino, near Naples. Seven wind farms worth more than 150 million euros (220 million dollars) have been placed under sequestration, he added. In all, 15 people are under investigation, Imparato said. Oreste Vigorito, the head of the wind energy firm Italian Vento Power Corporation, is wanted along with three others for allegedly embezzling public subsidies for creating wind farms. They are accused of falsifying documents such as property titles in order to receive more aid. Through a "complex mechanism" they have also allegedly inflated the amount of funds at their disposal for building the farms, Imparato said. Experts say suspicions of mafia links are strong. "Italy has created an Eldorado for doing business with windmills by offering a price per kilowatt-hour that is three times higher than that in other European countries like France," said environmentalist Carlo Ripa di Meana. "Thanks to regional and European subsidies, an installation becomes profitable by the second year," the head of environmental protection group National Landscape Committee told AFP. "It's frightening. The prospect of profits like that attract huge investments from mafia organisations like Cosa Nostra in Sicily, 'Ndrangheta in (southern) Calabria and the Camorra in the region around Naples," he said. The weekly Io Donna reported that more than 900 wind turbines, some more than 100 metres (330 feet) tall, have been erected in Sicily and thousands more are under construction "even where there is not enough wind to turn them." These investments are the "new business plan of Cosa Nostra," which has become a leading player in Sicily's green economy, said the weekly, published by the group that owns Italy's leading daily Corriere della Sera. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Wind Energy News at Wind Daily
New Zealand rejects plan for wind farmOtago, New Zealand (UPI) Nov 10, 2009 New Zealand's environment court has rejected a plan to develop the country's biggest wind farm, on the grounds that it would ruin the surrounding landscape. The proposed $1.4 billion 630-megawatt wind farm by Meridian Energy, New Zealand's largest electricity supplier, would have produced enough power to supply all the households on South Island, representing a population of more than ... read more |
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