Councils are opposed to Government plans to fast-track Contact Energy's application to build a gigantic $1 billion wind farm along the isolated Te Akau coast.

In deeming the project to be of national significance, Mr Mallard has used his ministerial intervention powers to direct that the resource consent process be referred to a board of inquiry, rather than be heard by Environment Waikato, Waikato District Council, and Franklin District Council.

But while the move has been welcomed by applicants Contact Energy and Contact Wind, all three councils have told the Environment Ministry they consider such intervention inappropriate.

Contact Wind and Contact Energy lodged a suite of applications for resource consents with the councils on June 26, and at the same time requested ministerial intervention, fearing council processes could be cumbersome and protracted.

But Waikato District Council chief executive Gavin Ion said all three councils believed they could better handle the resource consent process than the Environment Ministry.

"That is a view that we hold unanimously," he said. "We have local knowledge, local input, and are quite capable of handling something like this.

"We have worked on other projects of this nature, such as the NGC pipeline, which had five different councils involved."

Mr Ion said it was important for councils to have close involvement to ensure "robust outcomes" for communities, but the ministerial decision came as no surprise.

"We had been expecting it."

To date the Te Akau proposal has not generated the same level of opposition as Wel Networks' Te Uku wind farm, though that may partially be due to the councils deferring any public notification while awaiting the minister's decision.

Contact chief executive David Baldwin said the decision to use the call-in powers and have the application considered by an independent board of inquiry would remove the possibility for unnecessary delays while still preserving the right for public participation.

"The decision to call in the Hauauru ma Raki wind farm consent application recognises the national significance of the project and the important contribution it can make to a secure, renewable electricity supply for New Zealand," he said.

Contact Wind and Contact Energy say the wind farm is expected to meet the electricity needs of about 180,000 households a year.

Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- New Zealand's government will expedite a ruling on whether Contact Energy Ltd. can build a NZ$1 billion ($700 million) wind farm on the North Island.

``I consider this proposal to be of national significance,'' Environment Minister Trevor Mallard said in a statement. ``In terms of security of electricity supply, the proposal will have potential effects beyond'' the local area.

New Zealand, a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, wants 90 percent of its electricity to come from renewable sources by 2025, compared with about 70 percent now. Delays in getting new generation projects under way prompted the government last year to signal its intention to use its so- called ``call-in'' powers to take over hearings for projects of national importance more often.

Contact's 540-megawatt wind-farm project would be the country's second-largest after the 630-megawatt Hayes project that Meridian Energy Ltd. is seeking approval for on the South Island.

Project Delays

Meridian's Hayes project, approved in October, is stalled pending resumption of an Environment Court hearing next January. TrustPower Ltd.'s consents for a NZ$275 million hydroelectric project on the Wairau River are also to be appealed to the Environment Court. Council approval was granted this month, three years after the company lodged its proposal.

Planning approvals are usually decided by district and regional councils. The government's call-in powers can also be used for projects it considers to be beyond the resources of the local agencies.

A board of inquiry formed in February to consider Contact's 234-megawatt Te Mihi geothermal project near Taupo held hearings in July and published its draft decision Aug. 5.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gavin Evans in Wellington at gavinevans@bloomberg.net.

The costs of integrating wind power into the electricity system are relatively low, a study has found.

The study was headed by Professor Goran Strbac of Imperial College London and commissioned by Meridian Energy. It was not concerned with the cost of building and operating wind farms or of any additional transmission investment needed to connect them to the national grid.

The study concluded that:
* By 2012, if wind was providing 5 per cent of the country's power, system integration costs would add $1.90 to $2.70 a megawatt/hour to the cost of wind. As the cost of generating from a good wind site was about $75 to $85 a megawatt/hour, that would represent an additional 2 to 4 per cent. It would represent less that a quarter of a cent per unit on a consumer's power bill.
* By 2020, with 2000MW of wind providing 12.5 per cent of the country's power, the system costs would still be in a similar range of $2.10 to $2.80/MWh.
* By 2030, with 3500MW of wind meeting 18 per cent of national demand, the system integration costs would be in the $8.60 to $11.7/MWh range.
Wind's variability meant 100MW of wind turbines on a New Zealand hilltop can displace or substitute for only 20 to 30MW of baseload combined cycle gas turbine plant, Strbac said.
That is much better than in the Britain, where it is between 10 and 20MW, or Germany where it is less than 5MW.

But it still means that the system has to have spare capacity to cope with times when wind is not available, and that comes at a cost.

In New Zealand's case, that "capacity cost" was quite low, Strbac said. Partly that was because of the quality of the wind resource - high load factors, reflecting how much of the time it blows. But it was also because of the high proportion of hydro generation in the electricity system.

The hydro power stations operate with an average load factor of around 58 per cent. That is, they generate 58 per cent of what they could if there was an unlimited supply of water and they ran flat out all the time.

The hydro lakes can act as a buffer between fluctuating supply from wind farms and fluctuating demand. Only up to a point, however. If a high percentage of generation were to come from wind - like the 18 per cent by 2030 scenario modelled - more gas-fired back-up plant would be needed and the costs would rise.

"But up to 2000MW of wind, hydro almost perfectly absorbs the fluctuation in wind. It doesn't matter if the wind doesn't blow for seven days. It is not an issue," Strbac said.
That amount of wind generation could provide one-eighth of the country's expected electricity demand in 2020.

Wind's share now is little more than 2 per cent but much of the additional generating capacity being built is wind-powered. In addition to the capacity cost, which is about variability or covering calm days, there is the cost of covering sudden and inherently unpredictable drops in wind output over a time horizon of minutes or hours.

Wind energy provided 2.2 per cent of total electricity generation last year, figures from the Ministry of Economic Development reveal.

Wind capacity almost doubled in 2007 to 321.7MW.

The New Zealand Wind Energy Association says last year’s capacity increased as White Hill wind farm in Southland and Stage 3 of the Tararua wind farm in the Manawatu got under way.

Chief executive Fraser Clark said greater wind generation would help keep electricity prices down as the cost of thermal generation rose. “The cost of wind generation is not affected by the increasing price of fossil fuels or the cost of carbon emissions.”

By the end of 2009, 493.6MW of wind energy is expected to be installed as Meridian Energy completes Project West Wind, near Wellington, and Christchurch’s NZ Windfarms finishes the second stage of its Te Rere Hau farm in the Manawatu.

Beyond that, Clark said, New Zealand would see strong growth in the wind energy sector, with all major generators now pursuing wind energy projects.

Meridian is seeking resource consent for a wind farm in the central North Island and Contact Energy for a wind farm un the Waikato. Mighty River Power also plans to pursue a project near Wellington.

Last week Environment Minister Trevor Mallard said he was calling in Contact Energy's proposal for a 180-turbine 540-megawatt (MW) wind farm near Raglan.

Today Mighty River said it had submitted a formal application to the Ministry of the Environment about the applicability of the ministerial intervention provisions to the Turitea development.

The company has said Turitea would have up to 131 turbines and generate up to 360MW of power which would be enough for up to 150,000 houses.

Mighty River Power group strategist Neil Williams said recent experience with wind farm developments across the country showed such applications tended to be heard by the Environment Court following a local process.

"Recognising this, we think that the one step consideration offered by the call in process is an efficient way for the matters to be heard, both in time and cost, for the community, the councils and Mighty River Power," he said.

Might River also said today that a new geothermal power station near Kawerau was officially handed over to its operations team from principal construction contractor Sumitomo.

The $300 million station was fully operational ahead of time, under budget and capable of generating at a higher-than-expected capacity of 100MW, Mighty River said.

The project was the largest single geothermal development in this country in more than 20 years, with its output meeting about a third of residential and industrial demand in the eastern Bay of Plenty.

The aim had been for the station to be completed by the start of October and had been expected to generate 90MW.

Chief executive Doug Heffernan said the station was first successfully connected and supplied power into the national transmission grid two months ahead of schedule during early generation commissioning activities in late June.

It had relieved some of the pressure on hydro storage at the time, said Heffernan.

The Kawerau geothermal field was considered capable of further development.

The new station is built on industrial land owned by the area's largest electricity user Norske Skog Tasman.

In a further geothermal development, Mighty River Power started pre-construction work for Nga Awa Purua, a $450m 132MW geothermal power station at Rotokawa in April in partnership with the Tauhara North No 2 Trust.

- NZPA

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.

MainPower had been consulting with community groups since the middle of last year and to date the reaction had been "pretty positive", said Mead.

MainPower secured rights to investigate and develop a windfarm on the property in 1997.

Meanwhile, the $60 million Waipara Wine Village and Spa is about to take shape at the intersection of State Highway One and Mount Cass Road.

Building consents for the village have been lodged and will be followed by those for a hotel and main building.

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.

Whitney has recommended the proposal be rejected because of landscape, visual and heritage impacts.

"My clear instructions are that an expanded wind farm is not part of Meridian's current wind development programme," said Beatson. "Meridian soundly rejects any inference or suggestion that it has been anything other than open to this point."

In a savage attack before the five commissioners – appointed by the Central Otago District and Otago Regional Councils – Beatson said Whitney's evidence could not be relied on.

He was not objective or balanced, and his views on many important issues were not backed by expert evidence, he said.

"Mr Whitney has consistently played down or disputed the benefits of the project and sought every opportunity to disagree with evidence presented by the applicant and supporting submitters," said Beatson.

He also said any suggestion wind energy was unpredictable or unreliable was misconceived, and misunderstood the proposal and the technology employed.

To delay planning and consenting procedures "could cause significant risks for New Zealand's security of (electricity) supply".

Meridian said the proposed wind farm was on productive farmland that was comparatively remote.

A recent Environment Court decision allowed Meridian to build a 66-turbine wind farm at Makara, on the south-west coast of Wellington, although deleted four turbines.

Beatson said the court gave the Makara proposal the green light when there were perhaps 150 houses within 2km of the site. Project Hayes had five houses which were 5km away, he said.

Even if the commissioners found the area was considered an outstanding natural landscape under the Resource Management Act, Beatson said the committee could still endorse the development because it was appropriate for the location.

Beatson said the whole of the Government's largely supportive submission was significant and highly critical of many expert witnesses who gave evidence against the company.

He said the proposed site was not identified as an outstanding natural landscape in the Central Otago District Council's (CODC) district plan.

Suggestions about effects on the character of the land by Dunedin City Council landscape architect Barry Knox and CODC-contracted landscape architect Ben Espie, were labelled "far-fetched" and "singularly lacking in any specifics", respectively.

Further, Beatson called into question the submissions of two other landscape architects.

Di Lucas, who was engaged by the Maniototo Environmental Society, was "emotive and alarmist", while Phillip Blakely's personal submission was dubbed simplistic.

Beatson also took rival Contact Energy to task for introducing what he described as inaccurate and contested material.

After discrediting evidence on visual effects from many submitters, however, Meridian admitted its own visual simulations did not replicate reality.

Earlier, Neville Marquet, who acts for six submitters living near the proposed Project Hayes site, said the wind farm would transform the Lammermoors mountain range into "a very extensive industrial park" with giant man-made structures.

After eight weeks of hearings, chairman of commissioners John Matthews adjourned proceedings.

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.

Company director for EREC John Post said, "a good deal of New Zealand is well suited to wind farming, and there seems to be a lot of interest in clean, independent energy that protects people from rising prices and blackouts. We're talking to some private investors to help take us through to sales. There are some good people behind us including the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology which just this week committed to back us for the development of a 22 kilowatt wind turbine."

The EREC wind turbine was developed along side New Zealand's Industrial Research, Solwind, ATV of France and Van der Graaf International. A second 11 kilowatt wind turbine will be installed later this year at a South Island farm in Rangiora.

For more information go to www.erec.co.nz

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.

Mr Franklin said Vector would trial up to 10 of the micro wind turbines in a range of locations in Auckland and Wellington, where it operated electricity networks, to see how they performed in the urban environment and assess their technical viability and commercial potential.

Electricity demand was predicted to continue to grow at about 2 per cent a year and small-scale distributed generation initiatives such as solar and wind energy could grow strongly in coming years to help meet this growth, he said.

The company had an exclusive arrangement with the turbine maker Renewable Devices Swift Turbine, of Edinburgh. The Swift turbine had already been successfully installed in the UK and other countries including on residential homes, council buildings and supermarkets.

Each trial site would be assessed for its average wind speed, the amount of energy generated, noise and visual impact and for any effects the turbine might have on the operation of Vector's local electricity network. The Swift turbines were designed to be mounted directly on buildings and operated well in the relatively low speed and turbulent winds that occurred at rooftop level.
They have five blades with a diameter of about 2m and weighed about 50kg.

With an output of 1.5kW they could provide between 2000 and 3000KW-hours of electricity a year, about a quarter of the average New Zealand annual household's electricity needs. The turbine was virtually silent with a sound output of less than 35 decibels, well within local government noise emission standards.

Clive Bull, group strategic initiatives manager, said if the trial proved successful the price of the turbines could, with big orders, come down to about $8000. In Britain the turbines were working well and the manufacturers claimed they had a maintenance-free life of 20 years. Waitakere Councillor Penny Hulse said the trial was a logical extension of Waitakere's eco city status and its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 per cent by 2051.

"We need to be smarter about the way we operate and there are great opportunities for us as a city and for local businesses in trialling new technologies such as this wind turbine."

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.

“Apart from the three wind farms now almost complete, all other projects are just
drawing board ideas. “The reality is that the Commissioners’ decision lowers New Zealand’s wind generation potential. That means we are going to continue to be reliant on the thermal generation that has played a significant role in our increasing carbon emissions."

By siding with the local objectors the decision has reduced the Government’s ability to
meet renewable generation targets, and pushed the need for clean energy
development onto another site and another community,” Mr Clark said.
He said the decision demonstrated the urgent need for more leadership from the
Government to help guide and direct local authorities when considering renewable
energy projects.

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.

As a man with a high profile in another part of public life, people expect a much better level of contribution from Mr Oliver. He has an obligation to debate the issue fairly and factually."

Oliver, poet laureate Brian Turner and artist Grahame Sydney are among a high-profile group who oppose the 176-turbine farm proposed for the Lammermoor Range, 15km west of Middlemarch.

Giving at a public hearing, Oliver claimed Meridian's evidence was "deliberately deceptive" and he said Project Hayes was about profit versus carbon credits, and European findings were that wind farms had no significant effect in reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

But Mr Clark said that State Owned Enterprises and private companies are building wind farms because they are "cost-effective, efficient, and are certainly among the cleanest, ways to produce the electricity that each of us use".

He said that wind generation of power had grown rapidly. "Turbine suppliers can't ship their products out the door fast enough."

He added: "Wind makes up only 2 per cent of our electricity generation, yet we have one of the worlds best wind resources. So there is clearly scope for wind energy to have a bigger role in our energy future," Mr Clark said.

Sixty-six wind turbines will be built at Makara as part of Meridian Energy's West Wind project.

The site will generate enough electricity to supply most households in the Greater Wellington region.

Greenpeace Climate Campaigner Vanessa Atkinson said the decision brought New Zealand one step closer to a clean energy future.

"This was just the kind of project New Zealand needs to reduce its skyrocketing emissions and eventually achieve a 100 per cent switch to renewable energy.

"Zealand has an abundant wind resource and utilising it together with other renewable energy sources and with increasing energy efficiency means we can stop depending on dwindling and dirty supplies of fossil fuels.

"Renewable energy is a safe, simple and obvious key part of the solution to climate change"

"Project West Wind effectively avoids pumping out a half million tonnes of CO2 annually, and emissions reductions from the project will save New Zealand up to $26 million in avoiding the purchase of emissions reductions under the Kyoto Protocol (1).

"This is a great example of the Resource Management Act doing its job in assessing the local impacts and the contribution that renewable energy projects can make to tackling climate change - the greatest challenge facing the planet.

Ms Atkinson said renewable energy sources such as wind were a key plank in Greenpeace's New Zealand Energy Revolution: How to prevent climate chaos report, which was developed last year by local and international experts.

The report sets out a pathway for a secure and environmentally sustainable New Zealand energy system, and concludes we can achieve a 100% renewable electricity supply by 2025.