Hauāuru mā raki was a proposed
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 hundre ...
development on the
Waikato
Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...
coast of
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
.
It would have extended 34 km along the coast between
Port Waikato
Port Waikato is on the south bank of the Waikato River at its outflow into the Tasman Sea, in northern New Zealand.
Port Waikato is a well-known surfing and whitebaiting destination and a popular holiday spot. Fish can be caught off the rocks ...
and
Raglan. The project would have covered an area of and have a capacity of up to 504 MW. The wind farm would have been owned and operated by Contact Wind Ltd, a joint venture between national electricity generator
Contact Energy
Contact Energy Limited is a New Zealand electricity generation, electricity generator, a wholesaler of natural gas, and a retailer of electricity retailing, electricity, natural gas, broadband and Liquefied petroleum gas, LPG.
It is the second- ...
and the local Wind Farm Group. The project would have provided around 1440 GWh of electricity per year, equivalent to 180,000 homes.
Contact Energy applied for resource consents in June 2008. At that time, the first electricity from the wind farm was planned for 2013 with the project due for completion by 2016. In 2013, Contact announced that it planned to exit the project, due to, "the current supply and demand outlook and the competitiveness of the
Tauhara geothermal development".
Resource consents
In September 2008, the Energy Minister "called in" the project, meaning that instead of going through the standard
resource consent
A resource consent is the authorisation given to certain activities or uses of natural and physical resources required under the New Zealand Resource Management Act (the "RMA"). Some activities may either be specifically authorised by the RMA or ...
process, the decision will be made by an independent board of enquiry. The move is possible if a project is considered to be of "national significance",
and is generally (but rarely) used when the decision on an important project might otherwise be held up for a long time due to the standard process.
The Board of Inquiry established to consider the proposal was chaired by
Environment Court
The Environment Court of New Zealand ( mi, Te Kōti Taiao o Aotearoa) is a specialist court for plans, resource consents and environmental issues. It mainly deals with issues arising under the Resource Management Act, meaning that it covers a w ...
judge Jeffrey Allan Smith. Other members of the Board were Dr
Diane Menzies, Ms Gina Rangi and Mr John Lumsden. Hearings commenced on 27 April 2009 at
Tuakau
Tuakau ( mi, Tūākau) is a town in the Waikato region at the foot of Bombay hills, formerly part of the Franklin district until 2010, when it became part of Waikato District in the North Island of New Zealand.
The town serves to support local fa ...
. In May, Contact requested a 12-month adjournment of proceedings to enable time to compile additional details requested by the Board of Inquiry.
In May 2011, the Board granted resource consents for the project, with conditions limiting the turbines to a height of 150m and three blades of up to 50m length.
See also
*
Wind power in New Zealand
Wind power constitutes a small but growing proportion of New Zealand's electricity. As of December 2020, wind power accounts for 690 MW of installed capacity and over 5 percent of electricity generated in the country.
New Zealand has abund ...
*
List of power stations in New Zealand
This is a list of power stations in New Zealand.
The list is not exhaustive – only power stations over 0.5 MW and significant power stations below 0.5 MW are listed.
Power plants in New Zealand have different generating roles ...
References
External links
Contact Energy website, Hauāuru mā raki - Waikato wind farm
{{Electricity generation in Waikato
Proposed wind farms in New Zealand
Waikato