Council eyes windfarm gains

Palmerston North City Council plans to build the region's fourth windfarm, on virgin bush land at Turitea Reserve.

The council has received unsolicited - two formal and two informal - approaches from power generation companies to use the Tararua block.

TrustPower built the first windfarm on the picturesque Tararua Ranges in 1999, followed by Meridian's Te Apiti farm on the Ruahine Ranges.

A third operator, NZ Windfarms, wants to put 104 turbines on North Range Rd. The Te Rere Hau resource application is before a planning commissioner.

The council says it is formally seeking a commercial partner to provide the capital and develop the project.

Under the partnership arrangement, the council will let an energy company use its land to develop the windfarm - at no cost to ratepayers.

The project should generate "hundreds of thousands" of dollars for the city, said the council's water and waste manager, Chris Pepper.

The venture could return a minimum of $250,000 annually to ratepayers and the contracting work could bring millions into the city.

"But the council could still say it's not enough money so we won't do it."

The venture will be debated at a full council meeting in April.

TrustPower community relations co-ordinator Pip Tschudin yesterday confirmed the company had been in preliminary talks with the council.

Opposition to the wind farms in the region gained momentum recently with the formation of Aokautere Guardians.

Some residents living near the Tararua foothills say the turbines are an eyesore, and the council's senior landscape architect, John Brenkley, told a resource consent hearing last year that if the Te Rere Hau wind farm went ahead, the section of the Tararuas between the Manawatu Gorge and the Pahiatua Track would reach visual "saturation point".

Before the project can proceed a resource consent would be needed and this would be sought by the council's energy company partner.

Mr Pepper said the community would be able to voice its opinion in the form of submissions during the resource consent process.

If successful, the consent would be granted by an independent commissioner and work would start in 2006.

"The consent will address issues such as the effect on the reserve, visual impact, traffic movement and impact on earthworks."

- NZPA