Turbines fail to meet key standard

NZ Windfarms is considering whether to seek redress from former parent Windflow Technology after finding out its turbines will not meet an important international certification standard.

Formed six years ago by Windflow, NZ Windfarms is building its 97-turbine Te Rere Hau wind farm near Palmerston North with Windflow Technology's WF500 turbine. A condition of that purchase was that Windflow Technology seek International Electrotechnical Committee (IEC) Class 1A certification for its turbines.

Windflow Technology chief executive Geoff Henderson said the agreement with NZ Windfarms said it would "seek" certification and that was what it was doing.

NZ Windfarms chief executive Steve Cross would not say if it had interpreted the agreement to mean its Te Rere Hau turbines would meet the IEC standard.

Windflow, 19.95 per cent owned by state-owned electricity generator Mighty River Power, has spent three years working on the certification and has made changes to the original design at the request of the IEC. However, the turbines supplied to NZ Windfarms do not carry those design changes and would not be IEC certified, Cross said.

He said if the Windflow turbine did succeed in getting IEC certification it would not apply to the turbines at Te Rere Hau because they were different.

In a statement to the New Zealand Exchange, Cross said NZ Windfarms was now seeking expert advice to determine how material the difference between the turbines supplied was from the turbines that would gain IEC certification.

"NZ Windfarms is also reserving its position in regard to what mitigation or remediation it will seek from Windflow Technology," Cross said.

He would not say what mitigation or remediation the company might seek. It was NZ Windfarms' objective to be satisfied the turbines supplied by Windflow would be fit for purpose on the Te Rere Hau site.

Once NZ Windfarms had determined the difference between the two designs, it would work out how to react to that, Cross said.

Henderson said the turbines at Te Rere Hau were performing well and meeting all their warranty requirements. However, they were slightly different to the design it had submitted to IEC. A final application has been made to IEC and Henderson said he was confident of gaining certification.

He would not comment on whether Windflow would pay for the Te Rere Hau turbines to meet the standard if that was requested but said retrofitting the Te Rere Hau machines to meet that standard would be expensive. Cross would also not say if NZ Windfarms was happy with the performance of the 50 turbines operating at the site.

NZ Windfarms was set up about six years ago by Windflow Technology to buy and test its turbines and was Windflow's only customer. Windflow now owns only 3.6 per cent of NZ Windfarms. NZ Windfarms has applied for resource consent to extend Te Rere Hau with up to 56 of Windflow's machines.

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