April 14, 2008
New Zealand

Appeal against wind farm near Dunedin

The first of two appeals against large-scale wind energy projects gets underway in the Environment Court in Dunedin Monday.

The Upland Landscape Protection Society wants to overturn resource consent for a 200 megawatt wind farm near Lake Mahinerangi, 40km inland from Dunedin.

The Protection Society has applied for the hearing to be stopped until the High Court can conduct a judicial review into the granting of resource consent.

There is a cross appeal from Contact Energy, which says transmission wires from Otago are inadequate, so it would have to waste electricity from its dams on the Clutha River if the wind farms proceed.

The case will be followed by another appeal against a much larger wind farm nearby, the 650 megawatt Project Hayes planned by Meridian Energy.