Tauranga-headquartered TrustPower told the NZSX yesterday afternoon that it now had resource consents for 31 turbines of the 40 turbines sought for Stage 3, but the Palmerston North airport authority had objected to resource consents for nine turbines.
TrustPower said it had always understood these turbines would be subject to satisfying aviation safety requirements.
Chief executive Keith Tempest said TrustPower would now review the business case based on the smaller number of turbines and, if project remained viable, TrustPower would then call for tenders for the construction and supply of the additional turbines.
Tempest said if the project was not delayed by appeals to the Environment Court, it could be producing power before the end of 2006, with the full expansion completed in time for winter 2007, supplying enough electricity to power about 42,000 homes.
Stages 2 and 3 of the Tararua windfarm were possible because of the New Zealand government granting the projects carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol.
Tempest said the credits were issued for projects that would not otherwise be financially viable, on the basis of actual emissions displaced once the project had been completed.
“Our wind farm developments are excellent examples of sustainable environmentally friendly alternatives to gas or coal fired generation, and would not have been made possible without the government, through its Climate Change Office, issuing these credits," said Tempest.
TrustPower's existing Tararua windfarm has 103 turbines capable of producing about 62MW.
Meanwhile, Wellington is set to become a wind farm centre, with four new wind farm developments under consideration in addition to the planned giant 210MW Makara project.
Developers Wainui Hills Wind Farms is planning a possible 30MW, 10-turbine farm at Wainuiomata, with an application for resource consent being considered for lodgement later in the year.
A Long Gully site is being evaluated for a possible 70-turbine farm by Buckingham Asset Management, with research into topography and town planning continuing for at least another six months according to the firm.
Puketiro has been tipped for a possible 38MW farm by the regional council, who have announced after extensive community consultation that they would soon be open to development applications for a project that could sustain up to 20 or more large wind turbines.
Belmont Regional Park has also been considered for development by the regional council, thought able to play host to a larger farm that could have up to 80MW capacity installed, depending on the results of current wind speed testing.
