By The Press

Resource consents for a wind farm in North Canterbury are expected to be lodged with the Hurunui District Council next month or early September.

MainPower wants to build the farm on a 3km ridge running north-east from the summit of Mount Cass, 6km east of Waipara.

It could be generating power by late 2009 to between 4000 and 10,000 homes, depending on its size and turbine selection.

By David Williams, The Press

Meridian Energy has strenuously attacked a suggestion that it has a secret expansion plan for its proposed $2 billion Central Otago wind farm. It insists that is not the case.

The controversial Project Hayes – to erect 176 wind turbines on the Lammermoor Range, 30km south of Ranfurly – has been opposed by All Black Anton Oliver, poet Brian Turner and artist Grahame Sydney. Each turbine will be 160 metres tall.

Meridian says the farm was unmatched in New Zealand and could save more than a million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year – the equivalent of taking 296,000 cars off the road.

New Zealand start-up EREC Ltd launches its first wind turbine for rural customers
Press Release: Energy Recovery Engineering and Construction

This week, New Zealand start up Energy Recovery Engineering and Construction Limited (EREC) launched its first prototype wind turbine designed to bring affordable and renewable energy to rural New Zealand. The new 11 kilowatt wind turbine was erected in Hukerenui, Northland. It is designed specifically for farmers and people in remote locations to offset or ultimately eliminate the effects of rising rural electricity prices.

By NZ Herald

Homeowners could soon get part of their power supply from a small wind turbine fixed on their roof, if a power company's trial shows potential.

The electricity distribution company Vector yesterday began the trial at Waitakere City Council, where a micro wind turbine has been installed on the roof of the civic centre from where it will feed electricity directly into the building.

Palmerston North wind decision not excusable

Palmerston North Regional Council announced yesterday that they would only give partial consent to the construction of a new wind farm near Motorimu. Although the original plan for the wind farm included 127 wind turbines the council Commissioners have only given approval to 75. Christine Bowen, a spokeswomen for Allco, the developers of the wind farm, said that the decision came as a great disappointment. Allco is now considering whether to appeal against the decision in the Environment Court or to go ahead with constructing the smaller wind farm.

The commissioner's decision against the farm has been sharply criticized by the head of the NZ Wind Energy Association, Fraser Clark. Mr Clarks says the Commissioners cannot escape the reality that their decision has lowered New Zealand’s capacity for sustainable electricity generation.

By New Zealand Herald.

A wind power lobby group has hit back at All Black Anton Oliver over his campaign against a South Island wind farm. In a statement today, the Wind Energy Association condemned his comments as a "shrill" attack and said that few people would be swayed by his comments.

That young Pukeko we all know and love from the idiot box provides an alternative view of the TV ad promoting coal hungry SOE Genesis Energy, revealing the dirty secret beneath the slick PR of the ad campaign.

Auckland, New Zealand — Greenpeace today applauded the Environment Court's decision to approve a major wind farm project near Wellington. Greenpeace supported this project and joined the appeal in the Environment court on the basis of its significance in helping New Zealand reduce greenhouse pollution.

In an Environment Court decision released yesterday, an application by Unison Networks to establish a 37 turbine wind farm in the vicinity of the Te Waka Range has been declined. Hastings District Council granted the application to Unison after a month of hearings in May 2006. The application was in addition to the 90 turbine wind farms already approved by the Environment Court in the vicinity of State Highway 5 and the Titiokura Saddle. In its decision the Environment Court said it could not agree with the Council on the degree of adverse landscape effects in particular.

State-owned Meridian Energy has denied a newspaper report it was considering pulling the plug on its planned windfarm project at Makara, near the Cook Strait coast west of Wellington. "I'm not considering pulling the plug. That is quite wrong," chief executive Keith Turner told Radio New Zealand. "Secondly, it is quite wrong to say this project may not go ahead. We are quite confident that it will go ahead."

NZWEA

Construction at NZ's two newest wind farms, White Hills in Southland and stage 3 of the Tararua Wind Farm in the Manawatu is now well underway with many of their new turbines erected and getting their first exposure to NZ's winds. Both projects will be complete within the next few months, nearly doubling NZ's wind generation capacity to a total of 321 MW - enough electricity to supply over 140,000 typical households. Significant potential remains for future wind farm projects, with wind providing less than 2% of NZ's total electricity demand.

A majority NZ-owned company, Trustpower, is now expanding its business to Australia.
TrustPower today announced it would start constructing a $200 million wind farm in South Australia's mid-north in April, which it said would be its Australian beachhead. The company said plans had been finalised for the construction of 42 wind turbines on the Hummocks and Barunga Ranges west of Snowtown, 170km north of Adelaide.

Greenpeace is delighted to note that, due to the construction of several major wind farms, such as White Hills and Tararua, wind capacity in NZ will double during 2007. This increase in renewable energy generation is a vital first step in finding a solution to the climate change crisis.

By New Zealand Wind Energy Association

The Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) has announced the successful tender for the Puketiro wind farm site and has surprised many by awarding the development rights for the site to a developer new to the New Zealand market. Renewable Energy Systems (RES) of the UK headed off a field of 6 other companies, including established generators Meridian Energy, Contact Energy Ltd, Mighty River Power Ltd and Genesis Energy. Though new to NZ, RES have constructed over 1200 MW of wind energy capacity worldwide and are currently developing a project in Australia . RES will now establish an office in Wellington and commence development activities towards the submission of a resource consent application, expected in 2008.