By Celsias
Posted on Sept. 15, 2011. Listed in:
.
A long time coming - the decision on the Turitea Wind farm proposal has been released and 60 of the 104 turbines sought have been approved after seven years of debate and consent processes.
In August 2008, Mighty River Power Ltd lodged resource consent applications to construct, maintain and operate a wind farm in the Turitea Reserve and adjoining farmland near Palmerston North. The Minister for the Environment, Hon Nick Smith, called in the applications and referred them to an independent Board of Inquiry. 33 turbines can go on the northern end of the site and 27 on the southern part of the site.
The Draft Report was released on 11 February 2011 with comments on this report being extended to 60 working days at the request of MRP. All parties were also given the opportunity to make any final comments on a number of matters raised in MRP’s comments on the Draft Report, in particular on the National Policy Statement on Renewable Energy Generation and MRP’s request to reinstate and/or add up to 12 turbines over and above the number decided on by the Board in its Draft Report decision. All of this resulted in an extended period between the time of the release of the Draft Report and the publication of this Final Report
Mighty River has had an interesting relationship with windfarming. The farm has attracted loud opposition,and Mighty River has since been involved with Windflow Technology , gotten the Long Gully site consented and decided not to proceed with it itself. Mighty River has a long time available to decide on this site -ten years. The interesting thing will be to see what happens . Or is it waiting for its new owners post privatisation to decide?
