Turitea Wind Farm

Turitea Wind Farm is an approved wind farm being developed by Mercury Energy.[2] Most of the land is located in the Turitea Reserve, near Turitea, in Palmerston North, New Zealand. The project was initially planned for 131 wind turbines[3] with a capacity of over 300 MW,[4] with final approval of 60 turbines or 180 MW.[1]

Turitea Wind Farm
CountryNew Zealand
LocationPalmerston North
Coordinates40°26′28″S 175°40′17″E
StatusProposed
Owner(s)Mercury Energy
Wind farm
Power generation
Units operational60[1]
Nameplate capacityup to 180 MW[1]

The wind farm is proposed for both land owned by the Palmerston North District Council and surrounding private farm land. In 2005, and following a competitive bid process, the Council selected Mercury (then called Mighty River Power) to develop the project.[5]

Construction is set to begin in August 2019, with commissioning expected in early 2021.[6]

Mighty River Power applied for resource consents for 131 turbines in 2008,[7] and later applied to the Environment Minister for the project to be called in under the Resource Management Act. The call in process can result in faster processing of major projects, but in this case it coincided with the 2008 election and change of government. The Palmerston North City Council decided to continue with processing of the application, despite Mighty River Power's application for call-in.[8]

In December 2008, the Minister for the Environment, Nick Smith, directed that the project be called in[9] and the Board of Inquiry invited submissions and commenced sitting in 2009.[10] The hearing adjourned for a period in 2009, to enable Mighty River Power to redesign the proposal, reducing it to 104 turbines.[5] In 2010, the Board resumed the hearing, with a draft decision in February 2011 permitting 61 turbines.[5]

In 2011, the Board issued its final decision, approving a wind farm of 60 turbines, up to 3MW each.[1] In October 2011, Mighty River Power stated in its annual report that the Turitea Wind Farm was not likely to be economically viable before 2015.[11]

See also

References
  1. "Final Report and Decision on Turitea Wind Farm Proposal". Ministry for the Environment. 6 September 2011.
  2. Bradley, Grant (27 March 2019). "Mercury building a $256 million wind farm near Palmerston North". The New Zealand Herald.
  3. "Planned Wind Farm Has Nine Less Turbines". 16 January 2009.
  4. "Turitea site a potential world-beater". Mighty River Power. 17 July 2008. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008.
  5. Miller, Grant (12 February 2011). "Wind farm plan derailed". Manawatu Standard.
  6. Rankin, Janine (27 March 2019). "Construction of 33 wind turbines at Turitea wind farm near Palmerston North confirmed". Manawatu Standard. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  7. "Turitea Wind Farm AEE" (PDF). Mighty River Power. February 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-24.
  8. "Turbine consent process proceeds". Manawatu Standard. 14 Nov 2008.
  9. "Ministerial direction for call in". Ministry for the Environment. 18 December 2008.
  10. "Mighty River Power's proposal for a wind farm at Turitea". Ministry for the Environment.
  11. Rankin, Janine (8 October 2011). "Wind farm on hold". Manawatu Standard. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.