Dreading life among turbines 

Frustration is mounting in a small Tararua community just over the hill from Palmerston North about the prospect of being surrounded by wind farms.

International energy company Yinsen and its agents Aurecon have provided brief, updated plans for the Pahīatua wind farm on Makomako Rd.

Although there have been changes since draft plans were first unveiled at a community drop-in session in October, resident Gareth Bestor said they simply made the situation “less worse” for some, and “more worse” for others.

Makomako Rd resident Dion Kilmister lives in the lee of wind turbines – now he faces the prospect of bigger ones closer to the other side of his house. ADELE RYCROFT / Stuff

His neighbour Dion Kilmister already lives in the shadow of Mercury’s Turitea wind farm, his horizon dominated by turbines standing 125 metres tall just 2.2 kilometres away from his house.

Under the Yinsen/Aurecon proposal, there could be 200m tall turbines 1.7km away.

Four other homes would be less than 1500m away.

Farmland opposite Dion Kilmister’s house could be used for a wind farm. ADELE RYCROFT / Stuff

The companies said they had considered 220m tall turbines, but had reduced that.

It had removed two proposed turbines and an access road, proposed two new sites, and relocated another – a total of 11 turbines.

It was preparing technical reports for a resource consent application to be lodged by the middle of the year.

It could either be dealt with by the Tararua District Council, by direct referral to the Environment Court, or be referred for fast-track consenting.

Any of those processes seemed alarming to residents trying to understand how to gear up to digest and respond within a short time frame to volumes of technical information that would be lodged, and to play a meaningful role in the process.

Bestor’s partner Marla Burrow said living with the uncertainty and ambiguity of information released so far about a development that would have a profound impact on their lives was all-consuming.

She said the council, which ought to be representing the health, safety and wellbeing of the community, was absent from the interactions.

She approached the council on behalf of about 40 concerned residents in January seeking an opportunity to speak at a council meeting.

Burrow said she was told it was unlikely that would be allowed, as the council would likely be in the quasi-judicial role of making decisions on the resource consent application.

The council told it slightly differently.

Team Leader for Planning Services Aimee Charmley said the group had not made a formal request to speak.

“It’s important to keep in mind that, currently, there is no resource consent application lodged with the council.”

She said staff and councillors would be available to provide assistance and guidance once an application was received, including understanding the process, potential direct referrals to the Environment Court, or assistance with a fast-track application.

Bestor was not reassured, pointing to the fact the council was a member of the industry group, NZ Wind Energy Association, the only council on the membership list.

Its profile on the association’s website explained Tararua’s low population and hill country made it “an attractive proposition to land owners to consider negotiating lease arrangements with generators”.

The council defended its $950 annual membership fee as a prudent investment for a district which already had 20% of all major electricity generator turbines in New Zealand.

Bestor was also critical that the council had no rules about set-backs between homes and turbines to protect its residents.

Palmerston North’s District Plan requires a 1500m set back.

Bestor said the the UK there was a 3.5km seback from any turbine more than 150m tall.

Apart from the visual dominance of the proposed turbines, members of the group were also concerned about noise.

Yinsen/Aurecon have started approaching land owners to set up monitoring equipment to measure existing noise levels – which include the sound of the Turitea turbines and heavier-than-usual traffic noise while the road over the Pahīatua Track is carrying traffic diverted from the closed Manawatū Gorge and the alternative Saddle Rd, which will be closed for roadworks most days this month.

“Personally, this new presented wind farm plan changes nothing for me and I continue to be 100% opposed to its construction, in its entirety,” Bestor said.

The three residents said they had lost track of the hours they had spent seeking out information, and of the hours of sleep they had lost.