Wind Power News: New Zealand
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted.
Wind farms too much trouble, says councillor
Palmerston North City Council will block any further wind farm construction in the area if the Turitea project does not go ahead, a city councillor says.
Michael Feyen was giving evidence before a government-appointed board of inquiry yesterday, opposing the wind farm Mighty River Power wants to build about 10 kilometres southeast of the city centre.
The council has a contractual agreement with the state-owned enterprise as landowner of the proposed site. But Mr Feyen said if the project was denied . . .
Power scheme changes ‘minimal’
Mighty River Power has been accused of causing emotional and financial stress by being unwilling to compromise on its plans to build more than 100 turbines on the Tararua Range near Palmerston North.
Greens Rd resident John Adams told the Turitea Wind Farm board of inquiry yesterday that the power company’s “minimalist” redesign was a tactic to exhaust opponents of the project.
Residents affected by the proposal had to make sacrifices such as getting time off work to participate in the . . .
Turbines ’still dominate landscape despite plan change’
The overall visual impact of Mighty River Power’s redesigned Turitea Wind Farm proposal is nearly the same as the impact of the previous plan, according to a landscape expert.
Cutting some turbines from the proposal made a big difference at some viewpoints, but their dominance on the skyline was “essentially unchanged”, said landscape architect for Palmerston North City Council, Clive Anstey.
A board of inquiry hearing resumed this week to determine whether Mighty River Power should be allowed to build a . . .
Wind farm’s size cut to abate impact
The contentious Turitea Wind Farm project was cut back to make sure turbines would not be “overly dominant”, a board of inquiry has been told.
Stephen Brown, who led Mighty River Power’s redesign, which meant 21 potential turbine zones were axed, said the adjusted proposal significantly reduced the project’s environmental effects.
After seven weeks of debate last year, the Turitea wind farm hearing resumed in Palmerston North yesterday in front of a board of inquiry weighing up whether or not to . . .
Conditions a threat to wind farm, says Mighty River
A state-owned power company is warning that its proposed Turitea wind farm may not go ahead if the project is constrained any further.
Mighty River Power’s lawyer made the comment before a Government-appointed board of inquiry on the first day of the restarted resource consent hearing yesterday.
The hearing had been adjourned since September, so Mighty River could redesign its proposal to build a wind farm about 10 kilometres southeast of the centre of Palmerston North.
The original design has gone from . . .
Engineers worried at supply security with wind power
Engineers are warning that the need to provide back up for intermittent wind-generated electricity is emerging as a significant concern for maintaining supply when hydro lakes are low in dry years.
A new report on this country’s electricity generation also said that the Institution of Professional Engineers of New Zealand (Ipenz) considered that the target of producing 90 percent of New Zealand’s electricity from renewables by 2025 was never practical, and it recommended the government remove the target.
Ipenz is also pushing . . .
Wind farm decision ‘vital for industry’
The round of Turitea wind farm hearings starting today are likely to be the last – and the decision could have major implications for the future of wind generation in New Zealand, an industry expert says.
Mighty River Power’s proposal to build a wind farm about 10 kilometres southeast of Palmerston North has drawn debate and delay since it was publicly notified on January 24 last year.
The proposal is before a board of inquiry, which spent seven weeks from last . . .
Renewable energy target ‘not practical’
New Zealand’s ambition of being 90 per cent reliant on renewable electricity by 2025 is a pipedream, the Institution of Professional Engineers (Ipenz) says.
In a report on electricity generation in New Zealand, Ipenz said, by its calculations, the amount of power generated from renewable sources – such as hydro, wind and geothermal – would only be about 71 per cent in 15 years.”Ninety per cent is not, and never was, a practical target.
“It is incompatible with the New Zealand . . .
Opponents to wind farm blown off speaking list
Three quarters of the people who want a board of inquiry to listen to their arguments about the redesigned Turitea Wind Farm proposal won’t get the chance to present their views aloud. Just 26 submitters out of 103 who indicated they wanted to speak have been given a slot by the board.
Mighty River Power has reduced the scale of its planned farm on the Tararua Range from a maximum of 121 wind turbines to 104.
Commissioners said they didn’t want . . .
Contact trims wind farm
Contact Energy has cut back the number of turbines in its resource consent application to the board of inquiry considering its Waikato west coast wind farm.
The Tuakau-based board of inquiry hearing into the project was adjourned in May, with Contact granted 12 months’ extra time to prepare planning detail requested by the board.
Eleven turbines have been removed from the original 180 proposed for the Hauauru Ma Raki wind farm which would be spread over isolated country from Te Akau . . .
