Agreement reached on Te Rere Hau wind farm

20 May 2005

NZ Windfarms has reached an agreement to settle all appeals against its Resource Consent granted in February. The Company announced that in mediation with appellants, including the Aokautere Guardians, it had agreed to remove seven of its proposed 104 turbines from the wind farm which will mitigate visual issues for residents.

The settlement now needs to be approved by the Environment Court.

"We’re thrilled to have reached a consensus with our neighbours," said Windfarms Chief Executive Officer, Chris Freear. "An associated company has owned this land for nearly 15 years, and we want to continue to be good neighbours and make a positive difference in the community. This is a win win situation for the Palmerston North community, for the Company and for wind generation."

The Company plans to use New Zealand made Windflow 500 turbines, with construction commencing next year.

Recently, it announced a conditional agreement with a consortium of two wind power heavyweights N. P. Power and Babcock & Brown Windpower to share the development of the $80 million wind farm.

"The settlement means that we remain on-track for the Joint Venture once the consortium has completed its feasibility studies," said Mr Freear.

Long-time proponent of wind power generation for New Zealand, Geoff Henderson said: "This is a great day for New Zealand wind turbine technology and manufacture. We're one step closer to demonstrating the commercial advantages of our technology. Putting our turbine into a wind farm situation is the next stage of Windflow’s development process." Mr Henderson who is Chief Executive Officer of Windflow Technology has been a leading voice in the wind industry for more than twenty years.