Up until very recently--and in marked contrast to such countries as Spain, Denmark and Germany--Australia generated hardly any electricity from the wind. Driven largely by the mandatory targets embodied in the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 (Commonwealth) this situation is now changing. Australia has several operational small- to medium-sized wind energy power stations in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. But--in the face of often strong local opposition--the Australian Wind Energy Association is keen to increase the number and scale of such projects. This paper outlines recent overseas developments in wind energy and then focuses on the environmental and planning dilemmas posed by this form of electricity production. Particular attention is focused on a highly controversial wind energy proposal in south-western Victoria, the Portland Wind Energy Project (PWEP). The argument presented is that wind is only one of a number of possible renewable energy options, that coastal landscapes are an 'endangered species', and that it is time for geographers to revisit methodologies concerned with evaluating landscape beauty and debating the place of landscape values within the ecologically sustainable development paradigm.