Wind farm application successful

15 February 2005

The Resource Consent sought by NZ Windfarms Limited for its proposed Te Rere Hau wind farm near Palmerston North was granted by Commissioner Alistair Aburn who heard submissions last December.

"We're very happy with the Commissioner's decision," said Windfarms' CEO Chris Freear. "It's been a ten-year journey to establish this wind farm, the first to use New Zealand designed and manufactured wind turbines. This is an important event along the way."

The proposed Te Rere Hau Wind farm is adjacent to TrustPower's Tararua wind farm which has been described as the most productive wind farm in the world.

Subject to any appeals, Windfarms is confident it can have its initial batch of turbines operating at Te Rere Hau early next summer, and it has planned a staged process to have all 104 turbines in place by 2008.

"We have other wind farm sites in advanced stages of planning. So even if appeals delay the process at Te Rere Hau, we are likely to use one of these sites for our first turbines," Mr Freear said.

The Company is negotiating an agreement with Windflow Technology to purchase up to 104 Windflow 500 turbines over the next three years. Windflow's CEO Geoff Henderson said: "This represents an important stage of our development programme. Eighteen months of testing has shown us the performance advantages of our Windflow 500 turbine as a single unit. The wind farm will allow the windpower industry to assess its commercial advantages on a utility scale."