Country New Zealand Nameplate capacity up to 180 MW Units operational 60 | Location Palmerston North Owner Mercury Energy | |
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Similar Waitahora Wind Farm, Project West Wind, Te Apiti Wind Farm, Te Uku Wind Farm | ||
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Turitea Wind Farm is a proposed wind farm being developed by Mercury Energy for the Palmerston North District Council. Most of the land is located in the Turitea Reserve, near Turitea, in Palmerston North, New Zealand. The project was initially planned for 131 wind turbines with a capacity of over 300 MW, with final approval of 60 turbines or 180 MW.
Contents
The wind farm is proposed for land owned by the Palmerston North District Council. In 2005 and following a competitive bid process, the Council selected Mercury (then called Mighty River Power) to develop the project.
Consent process
Mighty River Power applied for resource consents for 131 turbines in 2008, and later applied to the Environment Minister for the project to be called in under the Resource Management Act. The call in process can result in faster processing of major projects, but in this case it coincided with the 2008 election and change of government. The Palmerston North City Council decided to continue with processing of the application, despite Mighty River Power's application for call-in.
In December 2008, the Minister for the Environment, Nick Smith, directed that the project be called in and the Board of Inquiry invited submissions and commenced sitting in 2009. The hearing adjourned for a period in 2009, to enable Mighty River Power to redesign the proposal, reducing it to 104 turbines. In 2010, the Board resumed the hearing, with a draft decision in February 2011 permitting 61 turbines.
In 2011, the Board issued its final decision, approving a wind farm of 60 turbines, up to 3MW each. In October 2011, Mighty River Power stated in its annual report that the Turitea Wind Farm was not likely to be economically viable before 2015.