Trans-Tasman Winds Blow TrustPower's Way

Media Statement
Friday 5th March, 2004

Trans-Tasman Winds Blow TrustPower's Way

TrustPower's plans to diversify into the Australian market have taken another leap forward, with the granting of a planning consent for a second South Australian wind farm development.

The Wakefield Regional Council granted TrustPower a provisional development plan consent for the development of a wind farm, in the Barunga Ranges 130 km north of Adelaide, in late January. The proposed $160 million Barunga wind farm will have up to 45 turbines, selected to deliver an installed capacity of 330 GWh per annum, and deliver enough power for 51,000 average South Australian homes. The appeal period has now expired, and with there having been no objections to the issuing of the consent, and the Department of the Environment and Heritage now giving an all-clear for the project, it is proceeding into full financial feasibility and construction planning stages.

The granting of the planning consent for the Barunga project follows closely on the heels of the issuing of a planning consent for TrustPower's proposed Myponga Wind Farm, on the hills behind Mount Terrible and around Heatherdale Hill, 50 km south of Adelaide. The $60 million Myponga project will consist of up to 20 turbines, and with an annual output of 110 GWh, will generate enough power to supply approximately 17,000 homes.

TrustPower's existing Tararua wind farm, near Palmerston North in New Zealand and already the largest in Austrlalasia, is currently being expanded from 48 to 103 turbines The expansion project, which will lift the Tararua wind farm's capacity to the equivalent of supplying 32,000 homes, is progressing to schedule and budget. More than half of the 55 new turbines are already erected, with the entire $60 million project on target for completion in May this year, before the onset of winter.

ENDS

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