Pacific Hydro Ltd said yesterday it planned to produce 140 to 150 megawatts of power from a A$250 million wind farm product in southwestern Victoria from 2003. The company said the project, which combines four wind farm sites based around Portland had been granted Major Project Facilitation status by the Federal government, streamlining the approvals process. Pacific Hydro managing director Jeff Harding said construction would start in early 2002 on the project, which would be the largest wind farm in Australia. "With excellent wind resources, we believe that it is inevitable that wind generation of electricity will become mainstream in Australia in the not too distant future," he said. Small wind farms are already planned or in operation in Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia and Tasmania as pressure increases to produce cleaner electricity. Harding said Australia's projects were dwarfed by wind farm projects such as a 1,500 MW development underway in Spain.