Manawatu wind farm on track

The country's largest wind farm is due to start generating enough electricity to power 35,000 homes in just over eight weeks.

Meridian Energy's $150 million Te Apiti project in the southern Ruahine Range between Palmerston North and Woodville has towers and turbines three times the size of those on existing windfarms. It will also be the first to be connected directly into the National Grid, and will produce between 90MW and 100MW.

Ten of the 55 1.5MW turbines have been erected on farmland beside the Saddle Rd, north of the Manawatu Gorge, just a few kilometres from the present largest wind power source, Trustpower's 68MW Tararua wind farm.

Te Apiti uses the wind turbines of Danish company NEG Micon.

Each tubular steel tower is 70m tall and weighs 118 tonnes. The three rotor blades are 35m long and weigh six tonnes each, while the generating equipment at the top of each tower weighs 51 tonnes.

The towers were built in Australia and Vietnam; the rotor blades in England on the Isle of Wight.