Turbine details made public

Details of a wind farm on rugged hills southwest of Brooklyn have been made public.

The 28-turbine proposal for Long Gully will be discussed at public meetings in Wellington this week before a resource consent application is lodged with the city council in mid-December.

State-owned Mighty River Power would own and operate the farm and Windflow Technology, a Christchurch turbine manufacturer, would construct it.

The 47-metre-high turbines would be built on sections of the privately owned Long Gully Station and generate about 14 megawatts - enough to power up to 6000 homes.

The proposal is a tenth of the size of Meridian Energy's 140 megawatt Makara project and would take about five months to build.

Eighteen turbines are earmarked for the western side of Te Kopehau Ridge and 10 on the western side of Long Gully.

Representatives from Windflow and Mighty River will attend public meetings in Brooklyn tonight and Karori tomorrow night.

Windflow project manager Emma Patrick said they wanted to see whether there were major public concerns they had overlooked and "for us to have an idea of how the public are going to take it".

Power from the Long Gully turbines could be fed directly to local homes through existing power lines, unlike larger wind farms, she said.

The public consultation document said most of the turbines would be partially or completely hidden from Wellington City, but would be seen from some residential areas and from Cook Strait.

"The turbines will be finished in a matt blue/grey colour in an effort to help them recede into the [sky] background."

Karori Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the site's closest neighbours. Chief executive Nancy McIntosh-Ward said it would talk to the Conservation Department before completing its submission. "Our concerns are always going to be effects on birdlife."