WAVERLEY WIND FARM
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Wanganui Chronicle 13 June 2016
Laurel Stowell reports: Trustpower's proposed Waverley Wind Farm will inject $40 million into the Taranaki economy while being built, and $3.3 million a year after that, says New Zealand Institute of Economic Research senior economist Peter Clough.
The Proposal
Trustpower's application for consent to build the 48 turbine wind farm on 980ha of coastal land between Waverley and Patea was presented last month to the South Taranaki District Council. It would take two years to build it the application says.
The farm is expected to be able to use wind about 40 per cent of the time and generate enough to power 50,000 homes. |
Wider Scope
The installation of the wind farm is expected to boost the local economies, and during peak time, employ 80 to 100 people. Add to that spending locally on consumables such as food and fuel, accommodation and wages offers increased local profits.
Clean Green
Futher feel-good factors are that there is no fear of climate changing gasses, saving many millions of dollars a year on carbon emissons; that it is relatively low cost source of energy; will improve electricity supply in the North Island; protects the use of our water which can be stored longer in hydro lakes and is more sustainable with fewer environmental effects.
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Submissions must be in by 16 June 2016
It didn't give locals a lot of time to put together well thought out argument, for or against,
to the South Taranaki District Council but submissions have been made! >>> enter here to read full submission presented by Trustpower to STDC in May 2016 TO BE ADVISED : South Taranaki District Council's responses to Public submissions
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For and Against
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TARANAKI DAILY NEWS
Waverley's fortune blows in wind
JOHN ANTHONYLast updated 08:13 10/09/2012
Waverley's fortune blows in wind
JOHN ANTHONYLast updated 08:13 10/09/2012
Waverley's main street, Weraroa Rd.
Winds of change are forecast for Waverley.
Business in the town of just under 1000 is holding steady but a proposal for a wind farm could see millions of dollars pumped into the community and a surge in jobs available.
This month TrustPower begins public consultation for a 980-hectare wind farm it hopes to build between Dryden and Waipipi roads.
TrustPower community relations manager Graeme Purches said the community consultation period should be completed by early next year.
Waverley Chamber of Commerce member and owner of the 130-year-old Clarendon Hotel George Kent said the business community welcomed the project.
"I suppose any business within our little community is looking forward to it," Kent said.
Waverley's lifeblood lies in its rural roots with about 60 dairy farms operating in the region.
The town's largest employer is Waverley Sawmills which has helped prop the town up for more than 100 years.
About 10 kilometres south 300 people are employed at Silver Fern Farms Waitotara plant.
Silver Fern Farms also has a plant in Hawera.
Some residents were not fully aware of the ongoing benefits the wind farm would bring, Kent said.
Purches said plenty of work would be generated when installation of the wind farm's 50 odd turbines begins.
A wind turbine costs about $6 million to buy and install.
That would mean the Waverley wind farm would require an investment of at least $300m.
It would see jobs created and a substantial cash injection into the community.
"There will be millions of dollars spent in the local community," Purches said. "There will be employment generated, there's no question about that."
A considerable amount of civil construction would be required for work such as building access roads, pouring concrete, laying cables and digging holes, he said.
TrustPower aimed to lodge a resource consent application to the South Taranaki District Council on March 1, 2013, he said.
It would probably take between six months to a year for consent to be granted: "It's very desirable from our perspective so we'd be mad keen to build it."
How long it would take before work began on the farm was hard to predict and largely depended on market forces, he said.
Now was a good time to build a wind farm because the dollar was strong and the price of wind turbines was down, he said.
But the economic climate in New Zealand made it difficult especially with existing uncertainty around energy demand.
"It's a very, very good time to build a wind farm but here in New Zealand it's an extremely difficult time to build anything."
But the farm would get built eventually, he said.
So far TrustPower had invested more than $1m on the project.
"We wouldn't have spent that sort of money lining up the ducks to do all this if we didn't want to build a wind farm there," Purches said. "It's a very very good wind farm site."
News of a Waverley wind farm first arose in 2007 when Allco Wind Energy NZ Ltd, subsidiary of Australian investment company, Allco Financial Group announced plans to build one.
In 2009, the project hit a snag when Allco Wind Energy was put into receivership.
TrustPower secured development rights from landowners Warwick Lupton and David Alexander in July 2010.
TrustPower own two wind farms in New Zealand and one in Australia.
It also has resource consent for two wind farms and two hydro schemes in the South Island.
Once TrustPower gets consent for a wind farm it has 10 years to act, Purches said.