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Te Uku Wind Farm is a wind farm at
File:A 10.9 tonne 49m long Siemens turbine blade for Te Uku windfarm waits at the summit of SH23 before heading towards Raglan.jpg, A 10.9 tonne 49m long Siemens turbine blade waits at the summit of SH23 for its scheduled time to close the road in November 2010.
File:A 54 tonne 27m long Korean built segment of a Te Uku windfarm tower descends SH23 towards Raglan.jpg, A 54 tonne 27m long Korean built tower segment descends SH23 on its journey from
1:50,000 map
just north of the Pakihi Stream). It follows an ancient Maori track which was often used by warriors on raids between Waikato and Kawhia. The road access to the windfarm largely followed the paper road, which was started around 1900 (a local historian, Bob Vernon, wrote that a store ledger started at Te Mata in 1896 includes at least 11 workers on the road) and seemingly abandoned a few years later, though Bob Vernon also wrote, "about 1919 the Public Works Department cut a six-foot track through solid bush, from the south-eastern end of the plateau here it joins this paper roadto the head of the Makomako valley". In 2013 there was controversy between a local farmer and
From the mid 1950s a
Te Uku Wind Farm
at WEL Networks - refers to 25 km transmission line to link with grid
Siemens turbine brochurePipiwharauroa Way on Raglan23 website
* The towers are made of steel, not concrete. And are only 80 meters tall, with 49m blades, making a total of 130m.
* ttp://gorgeouswithattitude.blogspot.com/2010/09/1st-blade-wends-way-to-wind-farm.html?m=1 Photos of the turbines on the roads near Whatawhata {{wind power Buildings and structures in Waikato Raglan, New Zealand Wind farms in New Zealand
Te Uku
Te Uku is a small, mainly farming, settlement on SH23 in the North Island of New Zealand, located from Hamilton and from Raglan. It has a 4-Square shop, church, coffee stall and art gallery, filling station, hall, school and Xtreme Zero W ...
near Raglan, New Zealand
Raglan is a small beachside town located 48 km west of Hamilton, New Zealand on State Highway 23. It is known for its surfing, and volcanic black sand beaches.
History
The Ngāti Māhanga iwi occupied the area around Raglan in the lat ...
. It has a capacity of 64MW using 28 wind turbines. Construction was completed in March 2011, at a cost of $200 million. The farm covers an area of approximately . The wind farm is jointly owned by WEL Networks
WEL Networks Limited is an electricity distribution company, serving the northern and central Waikato region of New Zealand. WEL is the fifth largest electricity distribution companies in New Zealand, with over 80,000 connections and 5,226 ...
and 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 ...
.
Resource consent was granted in May 2008 and appeals were resolved by November 2008. Construction of the wind farm began in 2010. Hick Bros Civil and Spartan Construction won an award for outstanding technical and environmental planning. The wind farm was officially opened by Prime Minister John Key
Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th prime minister of New Zealand, Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to ...
in February 2011. Te Uku was fully operational on 10 March 2011.
Te Uku Windfarm is controlled from 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 me ...
where Meridian has its control center for running all of their New Zealand Hydro and Wind generation assets.
The windfarm is linked to the national grid's Te Kowhai
Te Kowhai is a small rural town situated 15 km north west of Hamilton City in New Zealand. It consists of mainly dairy and cattle farms and also includes a small dairy/takeaway, fresh vegetable and fruit store, cafe, bakery, a large park w ...
substation by about of 33kv lines on 159 steel poles built on concrete pile foundations and an underground cable from just west of Waitetuna Valley Rd to Cogswell Rd, a total of about .
Construction
Each 130.5 m. high, 318 tonne,turbine
A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating e ...
took 2 or 3 days to build using 4 cranes, the largest a 600 tonne KR Wind/NZ Crane Group Alliance crane. Towers were formed in 3 sections (made in Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
), and topped by Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
components (as at Makara
''Makara'' ( sa, मकर, translit=Makara) is a legendary sea-creature in Hindu mythology. In Hindu astrology, Makara is equivalent to the Zodiac sign Capricorn.
Makara appears as the vahana (vehicle) of the river goddess Ganga, Narmada, a ...
) - a 3.5 m circumference, 81 tonne nacelle
A nacelle ( ) is a "streamlined body, sized according to what it contains", such as an engine, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. When attached by a pylon entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached ...
, hub and 3 turbine blades. Barge transport was considered, but rejected in favour of road transporters running from September 2010 to January 2011.
Ports of Auckland
Ports of Auckland Limited (POAL), the successor to the Auckland Harbour Board, is the Auckland Council-owned company administering Auckland's commercial freight and cruise ship harbour facilities. As the company operates all of the associated fa ...
in November 2010.
File:Pipiwharauroa Way approaching the Pakihi Stream crossing..JPG, The part-formed cutting through Okete Volcanics rock has been widened twice since 2003.
File:Beyond Pipiwharauroa Way on the Vandy Rd side of the summit the part formed Plateau Rd drops through a rock cutting about 300 metres long, 3 metres wide and up to 3 metres deep..JPG, On the Vandy Rd side of the summit the part-formed Plateau Rd drops through a rock cutting about 300 metres long, 3 metres wide and up to 3 metres deep. In the 1940s it is said a car managed to follow this road, though it is now very difficult to get a mountain bike along it.
Pipiwharauroa Way
One of themitigation
Mitigation is the reduction of something harmful or the reduction of its harmful effects. It may refer to measures taken to reduce the harmful effects of hazards that remain ''in potentia'', or to manage harmful incidents that have already occur ...
measures was this walking and cycling track. The track climbs from a car park on Kawhia Rd, near Bridal Veil, runs about 6 km and climbs 280m to the windfarm on Wharauroa Plateau. Over 2 km of less interesting walking can be saved if the walk is started from the gate at the end of the driveable part of Plateau Rd. From this point Lake Disappear
Lake Disappear is an intermittent volcanogenic lake (see also turlough and polje) situated in the North Island of New Zealand, just over 20 km from Raglan, 4 km beyond Bridal Veil waterfall. It has also been described as a solution ...
can be seen to the south after wet weather. The track peters out into the partly formed paper road
A paper street or paper road is a street or road that appears on maps but has not been built. Paper streets generally occur when city planners or subdivision developers lay out and dedicate streets that are never built. Commercial street maps ...
(see the dashed line on th1:50,000 map
just north of the Pakihi Stream). It follows an ancient Maori track which was often used by warriors on raids between Waikato and Kawhia. The road access to the windfarm largely followed the paper road, which was started around 1900 (a local historian, Bob Vernon, wrote that a store ledger started at Te Mata in 1896 includes at least 11 workers on the road) and seemingly abandoned a few years later, though Bob Vernon also wrote, "about 1919 the Public Works Department cut a six-foot track through solid bush, from the south-eastern end of the plateau here it joins this paper roadto the head of the Makomako valley". In 2013 there was controversy between a local farmer and
Waikato District Council
Waikato District Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera ā-Rohe o Waikato) is the territorial authority for the Waikato District of New Zealand.
The council is led by the mayor of Waikato
The Mayor of Waikato officiates over the Waikato District of New Z ...
about whether Pipiwharauroa Way could be closed for the lambing season.
Microwave tower
From the mid 1950s a microwave tower
Microwave transmission is the transmission of information by electromagnetic waves with wavelengths in the microwave frequency range of 300MHz to 300GHz(1 m - 1 mm wavelength) of the electromagnetic spectrum. Microwave signals are normally limi ...
has been on the crest of the hill overlooking Te Uku. It is now also part of a smart meter
A smart meter is an electronic device that records information such as consumption of electric energy, voltage levels, current, and power factor. Smart meters communicate the information to the consumer for greater clarity of consumption beha ...
ing network. There is also a VHF repeater near the tower.
See also
*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 ...
* 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 ...
*Pakoka River
The Pakoka River is a river of the Waikato Region of New Zealand's North Island. It flows southwest from its source southeast of Raglan to reach the northeastern end of the Aotea Harbour. The catchment is made up of just over of waterways.
...
- photo of wind farm and item on mitigation work.
References
External links
Te Uku Wind Farm
at WEL Networks - refers to 25 km transmission line to link with grid
Siemens turbine brochure
* The towers are made of steel, not concrete. And are only 80 meters tall, with 49m blades, making a total of 130m.
* ttp://gorgeouswithattitude.blogspot.com/2010/09/1st-blade-wends-way-to-wind-farm.html?m=1 Photos of the turbines on the roads near Whatawhata {{wind power Buildings and structures in Waikato Raglan, New Zealand Wind farms in New Zealand