Windfarm plan denied

Former All Blacks captain Anton Oliver says a court decision to deny consent for a Central Otago windfarm shows the landscape has no price tag.

Resource consent for Project Hayes, a $2 billion, 176-turbine windfarm, was granted to Meridian Energy in 2006 and 2007 but an appeal was taken to the Environment Court.

Protesters, including Oliver and poet laureate Brian Turner, as well as local residents, said the 160m turbines and 12m-wide access roads would destroy the natural landscape.

In a decision released this week, the court rejected consent, saying "despite the potentially large contribution of energy to the national grid, it would be inappropriate to put a huge windfarm in such a nationally important natural landscape".

Oliver said he had been in touch with fellow protesters all day, celebrating the news.

"What this result is saying is that some things aren't measured in monetary terms," he said. "It's saying that some landscapes in New Zealand are so special that you can't put any price on them."

The group was not against renewable energy but was concerned about the size of the site, Oliver said.

"It was far too large, it was going to be the largest one in the Southern Hemisphere. At this stage there is no need for that much wind."

Despite his strong belief the windfarm would be damaging to New Zealand, Oliver said he had not been confident the court would decline consent. "We live in crazy times, where things are being justified on crazy rationale. I wasn't confident at all," he said.

In a statement yesterday, Meridian spokesman Alan Seay said the company would assess the decision to consider its responses.

The Wind Energy Association said the decision had failed to find a balance between what was good for the economy and concern for the environment.

"This has the potential to create a far greater loss for all of New Zealand by hindering the development of other renewable energy schemes," said chief executive Fraser Clark.

- NZPA