July 12, 2016
New Zealand

Dunedin wind farm plan rejected

Emily Spink | The Timaru Herald | 12/07/2016 | www.stuff.co.nz

Plans to build a wind farm in Dunedin have come to a halt after the project failed to fly.

An application to build and operate a wind farm at Blueskin Bay in Dunedin was declined on Tuesday.

It was a “disappointing” result for Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust (BRCT), chairman Craig Marshall said.

“It wasn’t a surprise, but it was a disappointment.”

The BRCT’s company, Blueskin Energy Limited, wanted to establish the proposed Blueskin Wind Farm to increase supplies of renewable energy.

Blueskin Energy Ltd sought resource consent to build a community-owned wind farm, with three turbines, on a rural-zoned site on Porteous Hill near Warrington.

The proposal included extending an access road, excavation of the tower foundations and erection and commissioning of the turbines.

In a statement, Ministry for the Environment-approved independent commissioner Colin Weatherall said the decision to decline the application was “significantly influenced by the adverse effects the wind farm would have on the amenity and character of three Pryde Road properties. These effects were not able to be mitigated”.

The decision was subject to an appeal period of 15 working days.

“We are a voluntary organisation and are dependant on grants. If we were to do anything like that, we would have to find the resources,” Marshall said.

The Dunedin City Council hearings committee released its decision after the application was heard by Weatherall over four days in May.

Some 153 submissions were made on the wind farm application, with some in support and some in opposition.

Marshall said the company might consider transferring the project to another site, and there were “options we will need to explore”.

“Change is difficult and we are trying to do something new and trying to set a precedent.”

Expectant reports in 2012 stated the proposed venture would become the country’s first community-owned electricity company and would supply 1000 North Waitati households with an expected 4.5 million kilowatts of power a year.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/07/12/dunedin-wind-farm-plan-rejected/