May 9, 2016
New Zealand

Waverley wind farm project rejuvenated

CATHERINE GROENESTEIN | May 9 2016 | www.stuff.co.nz

A $300 million wind farm planned in South Taranaki nearly a decade ago may soon become a reality.

Trustpower this week lodged a consent application with the South Taranaki District Council and Taranaki Regional Council for the project.

“We want to proceed with our proposal, the Waverley wind farm has been on the agenda for some years now but was shelved because of the supply and demand balance and uncertainty around that in New Zealand,” Trustpower community relations manager Graeme Purches said.

“That’s all changed now and there’s a focus on sustainable generation again and we want to get on with it,”

The two councils had indicated they would publicly notify the application and call for submissions by the end of this week.

Once this happened, more details about the planned project and its costs would be released, he said.

South Taranaki District Council planning manager Blair Sutherland confirmed the consent application had been received.

The new application was for a site very similar to the earlier proposal, but with some extra land involved, he said.

A Taranaki Daily News story in 2012 said the project, then planned on a 980-hectare site southwest of Waverley between Dryden and Waipipi roads, was then forecast to cost $300 million and would host 48 towers and create 100 jobs during the construction phase.

That would have shrunk to about 10 jobs once the project came on line.

At maximum capacity, the planned wind farm’s 160-metre towers would generate 460 GWh of electricity a year, enough to power 55,000 average homes.

The proposal for the plant, which would be Taranaki’s first wind farm, was first mooted in 2007 when Allco Wind Energy NZ Ltd, subsidiary of Australian investment company, Allco Financial Group announced plans to build one.

In 2009, the project hit a snag when Allco Wind Energy was put into receivership.

TrustPower secured development rights from landowners Warwick Lupton and David Alexander in July 2010.

Trustpower operates 38 hydro power stations across 19 hydroelectric power schemes, and two wind farms.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/05/09/waverley-wind-farm-project-rejuvenated/