Virtual Wind Farm Visits For School Pupils

Media advisory for immediate use 1 April 2009

Virtual Wind Farm Visits For School Pupils

This week hundreds of school pupils around New Zealand will take part in a virtual trek around the North Island visiting Meridian’s wind-farm sites, including the Te Apiti wind farm in Manawatu.

The pupils will even experience the 70m climb to the top of the tall turbines – without having to leave their classrooms.

This term, more than 45 schools from around New Zealand are participating in the LEARNZ-run Wind Power field trip.

LEARNZ is an online and interactive education programme for New Zealand schools. The web-based field trips allow students to visit places they would never usually get the chance to visit, without the expense and time of a physical field trip, by using online tools such as live audio conferencing, web diaries, and videos.

In early 2008, Meridian entered into a three-year funding partnership with the Christchurch-based company. In 2009 LEARNZ is offering 22 virtual field trips, four of which feature Meridian’s wind and hydro generation assets.

This week’s field trip takes students to Meridian’s first wind farm – Te Apiti – where pupils will be able to talk to wind farm staff sitting on top of a wind turbine. Meridian’s Te Apiti wind farm is located on 1,150 ha of farmland and generates enough electricity to power 45,000 homes.

Pupils will then head to Meridian’s West Wind project, which is a 62 wind turbine development west of Wellington city, which will provide enough electricity for 70,000 homes when it is completed later this year.

The Wind Power field trip will also teach students about the electricity industry in New Zealand, the science of generating electricity, how wind is harnessed to create electricity and how electricity gets to, and is used in, the home.

Canterbury and Otago/Southland schools that are participating in the LEARNZ Wind Power field trip include:

Parkview School Christchurch
Russley School Christchurch
St Peter’s School Christchurch
Kavanagh High School Dunedin
Tahuna Normal Intermediate Dunedin
New River Primary Invercargill

ENDS

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