Fresh out of the High Court in Dunedin over Project Hayes, Meridian is facing a campaign against wind farms in Canterbury's Hurunui district.Meridian's Project Hurunui – currently at public consultation stage – will see the installation of 33
Fresh out of the High Court in Dunedin over Project Hayes, Meridian is facing a campaign against wind farms in Canterbury’s Hurunui district.
Meridian’s Project Hurunui – currently at public consultation stage – will see the installation of 33 turbines on private farmland 66km north of Christchurch, with sufficient generating capacity to power up to 33,000 average households.
Local tourism operator John Carr today sent out letters to about 800 local residents in opposition to the project and to other planned wind farms in the region.
The letters name six landowners approached by Meridian to have turbines installed on their land in exchange for estimated annual sums of $15,000 to $20,000 per turbine.
Mr Carr, who lives close to the proposed wind farm and operates the historic Tipapa woolshed as a tourist attraction, opposes the wind farm for issues of landscape, noise, loss of property value and recreational value to tourism operators, and the “derisory” size of a proposed community fund to be set up by Meridian.
He believes the six landowners named in the letter have “every right to develop their land as they wish, provided that such development does not in any way impact upon their neighbours.”
Mr Carr said his discussions with Meridian about mitigating the effects of the wind farm "came to nothing."
Battling for resource consent
Meridian spokesman Alan Seay told NBR Meridian had been “very open and candid” in its public consultation process, which has included two open days.
He expressed frustration at the difficulty of gaining resource consent for renewable energy projects, particularly wind and hydro, as compared to consent for conventional thermal projects.
“New Zealanders have expressed a preference for [renewable energy], the government has expressed a preference for it and in a world that’s now putting a price on carbon, it’s potentially a significant competitive advantage for New Zealand.”
“But the issue is getting access to those resources – it’s not easy.”
This is not the first time that Meridian has faced strong opposition to Project Hurunui, with an alleged tire spiking occurring at an open day held in May.
A formal application for Project Hurunui is expected to be lodged by Meridian with the district council in the near future.
At least two other energy companies have wind farm projects in the region.
TrustPower has two monitoring masts in Canterbury, and MainPower recently lodged a new resource consent application for the Mt Cass wind farm with the Hurunui District Council.
According to the latest NZ Energy Data File, released today by the Ministry of Economic Development, the nation’s total installed capacity of wind powered electricity generation increased by 55% in 2009 to nearly 500 MW.
