Tauranga-headquartered TrustPower told the NZX today that it was pursuing a wind farm development at Lake Mahinerangi, south of Dunedin.

Resource monitoring in the area indicated the potential for a world-class installation, capable of achieving performance similar to TrustPower's existing Tararua wind farm, near Palmerston North, which is currently regarded as the best performing commercial wind farm in the world.

Company chief executive Keith Tempest said the location of the proposed project, close to TrustPower's largest hydro catchment area (Lake Mahinerangi) and the four associated 84MW Waipori power stations, provided “huge opportunities” to benefit from the natural synergy between hydro and wind.

The addition of a wind farm would significantly assist security of supply for consumers in Dunedin and the surrounding area, particularly during winter and periods of peak demand, as the Waipori hydro scheme connected to both the local power distribution network and the national electricity grid.

"A wind farm development at Mahinerangi would enable us to better utilise the hydro storage available behind our Waipori scheme. The ability to retain water when the wind is blowing for use when it is not, plus the availability of added peaking capacity provided when both resources are available, would give the best of both worlds in terms of sustainable generation,” said Tempest.

If the project proceeded, it could have an installed capacity of up to 300 MW resulting ultimately in an investment in the Otago region of up to NZ$500 million. The wind farm would likely be built in 100MW increments.

Tempest said that subject to satisfactory results from engineering studies, wind resource monitoring and environmental reports, TrustPower expected to apply for the necessary resource consents later this year.