Makara Guardians
The Makara Guardians Inc. is an incorporated society formed in 1997 to coordinate opposition to proposals to build wind turbines near where the members live. Mākara is a rural locality 10 km west of Wellington, New Zealand. The Makara Guardians represents some 85% of the families in the Mākara Valley, and consists of around 160 member Membership is restricted to residents or owners of land in Mākara who support the objectives of the Society and who are aged over 18. History The Mākara area has long been favoured as a site for building a wind farm. It is located in an area that enjoys reliably high average wind speeds for much of the year. It is close to a major metropolitan area – Wellington, and close to major transmission lines that supply the city with power. The terrain is hilly, with long ridges running 250 – 450 metres above sea level. The Electricity Corporation of New Zealand (ECNZ) began investigating the area as a site for the development of a wind farm ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wind Turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. Wind turbines are an increasingly important source of intermittent renewable energy, and are used in many countries to lower energy costs and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. One study claimed that, wind had the "lowest relative greenhouse gas emissions, the least water consumption demands and the most favorable social impacts" compared to photovoltaic, hydro, geothermal, coal and gas energy sources. Smaller wind turbines are used for applications such as battery charging for auxiliary power for boats or caravans, and to power traffic warning signs. Larger turbines can contribute to a domestic power supply while selling unused power back to the utility supplier via the electrical grid. Wind turbines are manufactured in a wide range of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mākara
Mākara is a locality located at the western edge of Wellington, New Zealand, close to the shore of the Tasman Sea. The suburb is named after the Mākara Stream (''mā'' is Māori for white, ''kara'' is a kind of greywacke stone). The Wellington City Council regards the nearby Mākara Beach as a separate suburb. With winding road access from Karori or Ohariu, Mākara is a rural area with sparse development. It has attracted people who want rural living near Wellington. History In the nineteenth century there was a small amount of gold-mining at Terawhiti Station but no large-scale workable deposits were ever found. Tunnels associated with mining activity still exist on the hillside. In 1921 the Makara War Memorial was unveiled, built in memory of local residents who died in World War 1, and another name was added after World War II. There are gun emplacements at Fort Opau which still remain. These were built as part of the coastal fortifications of New Zealand due to fears ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metro area, and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region. It is the world's southernmost capital of a sovereign state. Wellington features a temperate maritime climate, and is the world's windiest city by average wind speed. Legends recount that Kupe discovered and explored the region in about the 10th century, with initial settlement by Māori iwi such as Rangitāne and Muaūpoko. The disruptions of the Musket Wars led to them being overwhelmed by northern iwi such as Te Āti Awa by the early 19th century. Wellington's current form was originally designed by Captain William Mein Smith, the first Surveyor General for Edward Wakefield's New Zealand Company, in 1840. The Wellington urban area, which only includes urbanised ar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wind Farm
A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an extensive area. Wind farms can be either onshore or offshore. Many of the largest operational onshore wind farms are located in China, India, and the United States. For example, the List of onshore wind farms, largest wind farm in the world, Gansu Wind Farm in China had a capacity of over 6,000 megawatt, MW by 2012,Watts, Jonathan & Huang, CecilyWinds Of Change Blow Through China As Spending On Renewable Energy Soars ''The Guardian'', 19 March 2012, revised on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2012. with a goal of 20,000 MWFahey, JonathanIn Pictures: The World's Biggest Green Energy Projects ''Forbes'', 9 January 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2019. by 2020.Kanter, DougGansu Wind Farm ''Forbes''. Retrieved 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Electricity Corporation Of New Zealand
The Electricity Corporation of New Zealand Ltd (ECNZ) is a New Zealand state-owned enterprise (SOE) formed on 1 April 1987, as a transition entity in the process of deregulating the New Zealand electricity market. Most of ECNZ's remaining liabilities were resolved in the late 2000s, and ECNZ is a residual entity with the sole remaining task of winding up a series of land title issues. Formation In the 1980s the New Zealand Electricity Department (NZED), a government department, controlled and operated almost all New Zealand electricity generation and operated the electricity transmission grid. The first phase of deregulation saw the New Zealand Government corporatise the NZED and form the state-owned enterprise ECNZ. Division In 1994, Transpower was separated from ECNZ and created as an SOE to own and operate the national grid. In 1996, ECNZ was split into two SOEs, ECNZ and Contact Energy, and on 1 April 1999 ECNZ was split into three electricity generation SOEs: * Genes ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Meridian Energy
Meridian Energy Limited is a New Zealand electricity generator and retailer. The company generates the largest proportion of New Zealand's electricity, generating 35 percent of the country's electricity in the year ending December 2014, and is the fourth largest retailer, with 14 percent of market share in terms of customers as of December 2015. Meridian was one of three electricity companies formed from the break-up of the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand (ECNZ) in 1998–99, taking over the Waitaki River and the Manapouri hydro schemes. Originally a state-owned enterprise wholly owned by the New Zealand Government, the company was partially privatised in October 2013 by the Fifth National Government, with the government retaining a 51.02% shareholding. Today, Meridian operates seven hydroelectric power stations and one wind farm in the South Island of New Zealand, four wind farms in the North Island, and two wind farms in southern Australia – one in South Australia a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Project West Wind
West Wind is a wind farm located at Terawhiti Station and Mākara, west of Wellington, New Zealand. It is the first wind farm for the capital city, and has a capacity of 143 MW. Construction of the wind farm project began in September 2007 and was completed in late 2009. The wind farm received resource consent for up to 66 turbines, however only 62 were installed. It is owned and operated by Meridian Energy. The wind farm was officially opened in April 2009, when Prime Minister John Key turned on the first 15 turbines. Electricity from the farm is stepped-up to 110 kV and is injected into Transpower's national grid via hard tee connections into two of the three Central Park to Wilton circuits (both circuits of the Central Park - Wilton B Line). Six turbines suffered premature bearing failures in 2011. The wind farm was the winner of the Energy and Resources category in the 2012 New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards. In September 2019 Meridian celebrated 10 years of g ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Terawhiti Station
Terawhiti Station is one of New Zealand's oldest and largest sheep stations, located along the south coast of Wellington. Terawhiti Station has seen a diverse range of land uses over the past 160 years. Originally a cattle station, Terawhiti grew into one of New Zealand's largest sheep stations before returning to cattle in 1993. The station originally consisted of the upraised marine terrace at Tongue Point on Wellington's south coast and was purchased by two Wellington businessmen Samuel Revans and William Mein Smith following the sale of Crown 'waste lands'. Captain William Barnard Rhodes later bought Revans’s land at Tongue Point stocking it with shorthorn cattle. His young manager, James McMenamen (known as Terawhiti Jack), later bought the Tongue Point farm and neighbouring blocks, forming Terawhiti Station and (later) Te Kamaru Station (at Te Ika a maru Bay). Today the station is approximately in size, running from Te Ika a Maru Bay in the north, down to Karori Stream in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wellington City Council
Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and often the Kapiti Coast, are taken into account; these, however have independent councils rather than a supercity governance like Auckland, and so Wellington City is legally only third-largest city by population, behind Auckland and Christchurch). It consists of the central historic town and certain additional areas within the Wellington metropolitan area, extending as far north as Linden and covering rural areas such as Mākara and Ohariu. The city adjoins Porirua in the north and Hutt City in the north-east. It is one of nine territorial authorities in the Wellington Region. Wellington attained city status in 1886. The settlement had become the colonial capital and seat of government by 1865, replacing Auckland. Parliament officia ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Greater Wellington Regional Council
Wellington Regional Council, branded as Greater Wellington Regional Council, is the regional council overseeing the Wellington Region of New Zealand's lower North Island. It is responsible for public transport under the brand Metlink, environmental and flood protection, and the region's water supply. The Wellington Regional Council was first formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the functions of the Wellington Regional Planning Authority with those of the Wellington Regional Water Board, before taking its current form with the local government reforms of 1989. A proposal made in 2013 that nine territorial authorities amalgamate to form a single supercity met substantial local opposition and was abandoned in June 2015. Council members The governing body of the regional council is made up of 13 councillors, representing six constituencies: * Pōneke/Wellington – 5 councillors * Kāpiti Coast – 1 * Porirua- Tawa – 2 * Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai/Lower Hutt – 3 * Te ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |