January 19, 2012
New Zealand

$2b wind farm proposal axed

Otago Daily Times www.nzherald.co.nz 19 January 2012

Meridian Energy has announced its withdrawing from a proposal to build $2 billion a windfarm in Central Otago.

The energy company is withdrawing its Environment Court appeal for resource consents for Project Hayes, the wind farm proposed for the Lammermoor Range in Central Otago.

The Project Hayes proposal was for a 176-turbine wind farm with a capacity of 633.6 MW and Meridian was granted resource consent by the relevant local authorities in 2007.

This was successfully appealed against because of its impact on the Central Otago landscape, forcing Meridian to go back to the Environment Court.

Meridian has since reviewed Project Hayes against its portfolio of renewable energy projects and chief executive Mark Binns said it had other development options that would be progressed ahead of Project Hayes.

“Withdrawing the consent applications is not only the most prudent commercial decision for Meridian, but also avoids prolonging uncertainty about this project for the community and the project’s supporters,” he said.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/01/19/2b-wind-farm-proposal-axed/