Less reliance on Whirinaki

9th August 2005

CHRIS GARDNER

Brian Martin has claimed Unison's proposed construction of a 16-turbine wind farm at Titiokura Summit would lessen the region's reliance on the re-commissioned Whirinaki power station.

Mr Martin, chairman of the fourth-biggest lines company in the country, said the power station, north of Napier, was designed to pick up the shortfall when the electricity market was experiencing abnormalities.

"The need for this expensive back-up could be further mitigated by wind generation from within our own region," he told the Hastings District Council's hearings committee yesterday.

"From a regional perspective wind power generation will provide an element of self sustainability.

"Although the electricity market we operate under is a national market and generation is priced nationally, and not regionally, it is still satisfying to know that the electricity output from the project will always go to the nearest demand centre, and that will inevitably be Hawke's Bay consumers."

Stage one of the project, headed by Unison in partnership with Hobart-based Hydro Tasmania, will generate enough electricity for approximately 21,500 homes.

It will complement the nation's hydro-generating resources which produce more than 60 percent of electricity requirements," the company says.

"It is imperative that New Zealand has the electricity generation capability to meet the demand growth that will provide electricity users with the confidence that the lights and power will stay on in our homes and in industry."

Unison's commercial general manager, Jon Nichols, said the project, supported by the Ministry of the Environment, would cost $90 million and take up to nine years to reach financial payback.

"The project needs the consenting of 15 to 16 turbines to be commercially viable," he said.

The project, which includes a visitor information centre, will require 550,000 sq metres of earthworks and construction of 11.3km of roads on the 316ha site.

Work would take an estimated five months.

Steve Harding, energy projects co-ordinator at Unison, said the Titiokura Summit, near Te Pohue, was the ideal location for a wind farm because of its good road access and proximity to high-voltage lines.

Councillors were given some idea of the visual impact the wind farm would have when Mr Harding played a three-dimensional computer simulation, created by Truescape of Christchurch, showing how the wind farm would look from State Highway 5 when driving at 80km/h.

Hydro Tasmania's Richard Mackie said the site rivalled the most promising wind farm sites nationally.

"The wind speed is such that the wind farm will be a significant contributor to the energy supply of the region, and is a worthwhile use of the site," he said.

"Hydro Tasmania's extensive experience at developing large-scale wind farms, combined with Unison's local presence, will result in the wind farm being constructed to world's best-practice standards."

Unison is continuing its application today with objectors, including Hawke's Bay historian Patrick Parsons, due to present their arguments tomorrow before councillors go on a site visit in the afternoon.