Windy Wellington powered up

BY MAGGIE TAIT

With a flick of a switch, and then another flick of a switch, Meridian's windfarm near Wellington was kicked into life today.

At the $440 million Project West Wind windfarm in the hills of Makara, Prime Minister John Key turned on a model of an oversized household switch to demonstrate the new turbines were now on.

Out the back a man from Siemens hit another switch and the 40m-long blades on 15 turbines started to spin as they were hooked up to the national grid.

Twenty of 111m-high 62 turbines have been constructed on the site. Those on-line today will generate enough energy to power 17,000 homes. When all the turbines are up and spinning - by the end of this year - they will generate enough power for 70,000 homes or the whole of Wellington.

Mr Key joked with the 200-odd people gathered in a tent in raging wind about the appropriateness of the site. He said the ninth floor of the Beehive could be another good site as the wind howled through there too.

"I thought the reason that most of the prime ministers left the office sort of half mad was because of the pressure of the job," but now he thought it might be the howling wind that only seemed to affect his floor.

He said the windfarm was exciting for Wellington but also gave New Zealand an opportunity to boost its clean green image.

Both Mr Key and Meridian chief executive Tim Lusk acknowledged opponents of the windfarm.

Makara residents lost a two-year battle against the project in the Environment Court. The court reduced the size and number of turbines in response to their concerns.

Mr Lusk said Meridian was determined to improve relationships.

"We have listened to your arguments which have always been well made, we have tried hard to accommodate your concerns and we do realise we have a way to go to demonstrate that we can be good neighbours," Mr Lusk said.

Mr Key told reporters that opponents' views had been considered.

"There is ultimately some noise that comes off turbines but I think this is real state of the art turbines from Siemens and hopefully the locals won't be affected."

Mr Lusk said the project was a boon for Wellington.

"West Wind is a wonderful prize for Wellington, a world-class wind generation asset right on the doorstep of a city that is best known for the strong winds that frequently batter it."

Wind Association chief executive Fraser Clark, in a statement, said the farm would help keep electricity affordable as gas prices were predicted to soar.

He said wind needed strong political support.

"Over 900 megawatts of wind energy capacity is consented, and developers are seeking consent for another 2000MW ... Despite this significant consenting activity, there have been no announcements regarding the construction of any other major wind farms since work began at Project West Wind.

"We need a clear and stable policy and regulatory environment to give wind farm developers confidence in investing in new generation."

One element of that would be an Emissions Trading Scheme -- which is under review.

In his speech today Mr Key said changes to the Resource Management Act would improve processes but opponents' views had to be considered.

- NZPA