NZ Windfarms - NZ Windfarms 376 North Range Road

Te Rere Hau Wind Farm

The Te Rere Hau wind farm is situated in North Range road in the Taraua Ranges approximately 11 kilometres from Palmerston North.  The site operates 92 Windflow Technology WF500 turbines with a nameplate capacity of 46 megawatts. The consent allows for a further 56 turbines to be operated in the future but there are no plans for an extension at this time.

The electricity generated is fed into the national grid through a transmission line connected to the node at the adjacent Tararua wind farm.

The wind farm provides economic benefit to the country through providing electricity generation and distribution close where it is needed and an estimated $2m to the local community through the employment of local residents and purchase of other goods and services.

The turbines are the only locally produced variants being operated in New Zealand and are designed for strong winds and turbulent conditions.

History

Consent for the wind farm was granted from the Palmerston North City Council in 2005. Construction of the wind farm commenced the following year in 2006 and involved the commissioning of 65 turbines on 224 hectares of land owned by the Company. In 2009 resource consent was sought from the Tararua District Council for an extension of the farm to install up to 32 turbines on the eastern side of the wind farm. Consent was granted in March 2010 and 32 turbines were commissioned progressively up to 1 July 2011. Currently the Te Rere Hau wind farm operates 92 W500 Turbines.