New Zealand regulator approves majority of large windfarm
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, May 30, 2007. A regulatory decision in favour of a proposed windfarm has demonstrated that large windfarms do have a place in New Zealand, says that country’s wind energy association.
The decision from the Environment Court in favour of Meridian’s West Wind project near Wellington is a major step forward for wind energy in the country, says Fraser Clark of NZWEA. The decision allows for construction of all but four of the 70 turbines planned by Meridian, on a site that is considered one of the best in the world for wind.
Resource approvals for the full 70-turbine proposal were granted by the Wellington City and Great Wellington Regional councils in December 2005 but those decisions were appealed by several parties. The Environment Court hearing was held for three weeks last June.
“This is positive news for Wellington and for New Zealand,” says Keith Turner of Meridian. “We have always said that this site was a large resource and has the potential to be the best windfarm in the world, and we now have the opportunity to make that vision a reality.”
Turner cautioned that the loss of four turbines after an earlier substantial reduction in the original size of the windfarm, could have an impact on the economics of the project, which had already suffered due to the lengthy consenting process. “But as the judges noted, Project West Wind will, when fully operational, meet much of the domestic electricity demand of the Wellington region by a process which does not emit pollutants and which does not contribute to some of the adverse effects of climate change.”
Currently, 2% of New Zealand’s electricity is generated by wind and installed capacity has reached 170 MW with another 151 MW currently being commissioned.
Meridian Energy owns and operates New Zealand’s largest hydro station at Manapouri and eight hydro stations on the Waitaki River system. With total capacity of 2,438 MW, the company controls 30% of the country’s total generation and supplies power to the country’s single largest electricity customer, the Comalco aluminium smelter at Bluff.
It also operates the largest windfarm in New Zealand, the 90 MW Te Apiti facility on the northern side of the Manawatu Gorge with 55 NEG Micon turbines, as well as the wind turbine in Wellington.
Meridian Energy is the largest of the three state-owned enterprises formed from the split of ECNZ in March 1999.
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