Contact Energy's Waitahora Windfarm Another Victim of New Zealand's Energy Market Conditions

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Perth, Australia)--Contact Energy Limited (Wellington, New Zealand) suspended the development of the Waitahora Windfarm in Puketoi Range, near Dannevirke, Hawke's Bay, in New Zealand. Contact Energy has announced that it will concentrate on geothermal projects, putting wind generation on the backburner. It also has pulled out of the Hauauru ma raki project on the Waikato coast.

Contact spokesman Nicholas Robinson said that market conditions did not support investment in wind power generation. The company will not proceed with Waitahora "in the foreseeable future."

Contact Energy applied for resource consents, and the environmental commission declined the application in 2008. The project was again heard by the Environment Court in October 2010 and was granted with all consents the following month. However, the court decision required Contact Energy to amend the original decision and wanted turbine locations.

The Waitahora project has been given approval to install 58 wind turbines that would produce approximately 156 megawatts (MW) of energy to the grid, which will power up to 70,000 average homes. The Environment Court has granted five years of resource consents for the Waitahora windfarm that will expire by the end of 2015. Contact requested a 10-year lapse period; however, the court denied the request, explaining that a 10-year lapse period is an unreasonably long period to lock up resources and create uncertainty for landowners.

Contact Energy joined with a local windfarm developer Wind Farm Group (Auckland, New Zealand) to develop the Hauuru ma raki windfarm in Waikato. It would have operated under the name Contact Wind Farm Group.

The original proposal for the Hauuru ma raki windfarm would have produced up to 540 megawatts of electricity over three stages, with the first stage to feature 52 turbines. The project proposal includes the construction, operation and maintenance of a 220-kilovolt transmission line, three substations, associated support structures, equipment and facilities.

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