Te Rere Hau is a

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 to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turb ...

owned and operated by New Zealand Windfarms Ltd. It is situated on the

Tararua Ranges The Tararua Range, often referred to as the Tararua Ranges or Tararua, is one of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand. The Tararua Range runs northeast–southwest for from near Palmerston North to the upper reaches of ...

, approximately 11 km east of

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

in New Zealand.Te Rere Hau Wind Farm
In 2003, New Zealand Windfarms were assisted by the New Zealand government under the Projects to Reduce Emissions program and were issued with Kyoto Protocol emission units for the proposal on the grounds that it would reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The first stage was officially opened in September 2006 by RT Hon

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

and it consisted of five 500 kW turbines. Stage 2 (28 turbines) and Stage 3 (32 turbines) were completed in 2009. The final Stage 4 (32 turbines) was completed in 2011. In total Te Rere Hau has 97

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 yea ...

s with a generating capacity of 48.5 MW, which is enough to power approximately 18,000 local households.''Wind bridges energy shortfall'', Electrical Automation, August/September 2007 The turbines generated a total of 123 GWh in the year up to June 2015.''NZ Windfarms Annual Report for the year ended June 2015'', NZX shareholder document, 2015 The Windflow 500 turbines, made in New Zealand by Windflow Technology, stand 30 metres high with a rotor diameter of 33 metres. They have a two-bladed design, making them easily distinguishable from those of the nearby Tararua and Te Apiti wind farms. Te Rere Hau is the first commercial wind farm in the country to use locally manufactured wind turbines. By using turbines that have been designed and made in New Zealand, over 90% of the project cost stays in the country. In July 2012, after frequent complaints over noise, Palmerston North City Council (PNCC) took a case against the owners to the

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 ...

. The court ruled that NZ Windfarms was in breach of noise limits stated in its resource consent and that the noise predictions supplied by NZ Windfarms in the resource consent application were wrong. PNCC CEO Paddy Clifford stated ''"we can start working towards a resolution with NZ Windfarms"''. The Environment Court ruling was successfully appealed to the High Court with judgment delivered in June 2013. The Palmerston North City Council then failed in its appeal of the High Court decision to the Court of Appeal with judgment delivered in December 2014. In April 2022, NZ Windfarms announced plans to repower the farm, replacing its Windflow-500 turbines with larger, three-bladed turbines.

References

{{Reflist Wind farms in New Zealand Buildings and structures in Manawatū-Whanganui

See also

References