Appeal against Kaiwera wind farm withdrawn
An Environment Court appeal by the Upland Landscape Protection Society, against TrustPower’s proposed 240 MW Kaiwera Downs wind farm near Gore, has been withdrawn.
TrustPower now has two confirmed resource consents for two proposed wind farms in the South Island, the other being, and a 200 MW wind farm at Mahinerangi, close to TrustPower existing 84MW Waipori Hydro scheme.
The withdrawal of the appeal leaves the way clear for TrustPower to develop the proposed wind farms once they become financially viable. The timing of that will depend upon favourable exchange rates and turbine availability and pricing, and the resolution of issues regarding the imposition of HVDC transmission and upgrade charges upon new South Island generation projects.
In addition, TrustPower has resource consents, still subject to the Environment Court appeal process, for canal-based hydro developments on the West coast’s Arnold River (45 MW) and on the Wairau River in Marlborough (72MW). The Environment Court appeal processes for both hydro projects are anticipated to be completed before the end of 2009.
