MainPower plans to develop wind farm

New Zealand transmission firm MainPower said it plans to build a wind farm on Mt Cass, about six kilometres east of Waipara in North Canterbury.

Managing Director Allan Berge said the project had the potential to provide significant benefit to the region, including generating enough renewable energy to power the Hurunui district.

Berge said MainPower had been investigating wind generation opportunities in the region for several years, and the Mt Cass site was the most promising it had looked at. It has undertaken extensive feasibility studies on the project over the last year.

"It's a local project conceived and developed by a local company and will contribute some real benefits to the region," Berge said. H added that despite renewable energy resources being available in the area, there is currently no local generation. He said energy consumption in the region is growing at twice the national rate, putting the future security of supply at risk.

He says the wind farm is seen as a step towards energy self sufficiency for the region.

The wind farm will be built on a three-kilometre ridge running north east from the summit of Mt Cass and will also include an access road.

MainPower secured legal rights to investigate and develop a wind farm on the Mt Cass property almost 10 years ago. Depending on the final size of the wind farm, and on turbine selection, it could generate between 15MW to 25MW of electricity, enough energy for between 4,000 to 10,000 homes.

MainPower is considering a number of options for wind turbines on the site which range from 30 small (46.5 metre) turbines to 10 large (125 metre) turbines.

There is also the possibility of doubling the size and energy output of the wind farm.

MainPower expects to apply for resource consent in the middle of 2007.

By: New Energy Finance

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