MightyRiverPower wins approval for smaller Turitea wind farm

MightyRiverPower wins fast-track approval for reduced-size Turitea wind farm

By Pattrick Smellie

Feb. 11 (BusinessDesk) –State-owned electricity generator MightyRiverPower Ltd. has become the latest energy company to win fast-tracked consent to build new generation capacity, but its application for the Turitea wind farm has been cut almost in half.

MRP applied for permission to build 105 turbines with an installed capacity of around 300 Megawatts, whereas the draft determination from the Board of Inquiry, released today, allows between 58 and 61 turbines, with an installed capacity of around 180MW.

“I think it’s fair to expect that the economics of the project have become a little more challenging,” MRP’s development general manager Mark Trigg said. The smaller size could create more flexible options for transmission, but the turbines removed by the draft decision were in the middle of the proposed development, creating effectively two, adjacent developments.

The New Zealand Wind Energy Association welcomed the decision, while questioning its reduced size.

“At some point essential infrastructure must connect to people and communities,” said NZWEA chief executive Fraser Clark. “Finding an appropriate environmental balance is difficult. Electricity use comes with consequences – be they economic, environmental or social.

“The decision raises questions about whether we have the right decision-making framework in place to ensure our future access to secure and low-cost electricity that has minimal environmental impacts. We await the outcomes of the Government’s reforms of the Resource Management Act, which seek to enable important infrastructure development,” said Clark.

The Turitea site is near Palmerston North, in an area where numerous other wind developments have either occurred or are planned, using the wind conditions created by the Tararua Ranges.

MRP has 20 working days to consider the draft decision, before it is finalised under the fast-track process implemented by Environment Minister Nick Smith to speed up nationally significant infrastructure developments.

Contact Energy Ltd. has also benefited from the process in respect of its Raglan wind farm proposal and the Tauhara 2 geothermal development.

“This is a world-class wind resource,” said Trigg. “The draft decision removes one uncertainty around the project and allows us to move forward with assessing detailed technical and commercial considerations for the draft wind farm consent.”

“With the decision in hand, the lead-time to build the wind farm at Turitea is now less than two years from the point that the company determines that market conditions support a decision to invest.”

Trigg said detailed development design had yet to be undertaken, and MRP had yet to consider the economics of the proposal in detail.

However, MRP’s view was that wind power was no more or less attractive than alternatives including geothermal, thermal (gas or coal) or hydro.

“There’s no clear-cut position in New Zealand that one fuel type has clear advantage over another,” said Trigg. “We assess everything on a project by project basis.”

Transpower’s latest annual electricity security assessment does not specifically identify Turitea, but suggests there is “medium” likelihood of a 300MW North Island wind farm – Turitea’s original size - being built in both 2015 and 2016.

(BusinessDesk)

© Scoop Media