NZ’s first wind farm
Located in the wild, windy hills of Wairarapa, 15 imposing yet impressive turbines power more than 4000 homes – a job that began 22 years ago with the establishment of the country’s first wind farm.
Named Hau Nui Farm, meaning Big Wind in Ma¯ori, the location, 20 kilometres from Martinborough, was selected due to the ideal wind currents that are funnelled and accelerated from Cook Strait and the Remutaka range.
The South Wairarapa area has long been recognised for its significant wind energy potential and the Hau Nui site is acknowledged as one of the best wind farm sites in the world.
A 2001 report by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, Review of New Zealand Wind Energy Potential to 2015, cited the Wairarapa hills and coast area as having the second-highest potential energy output in the country.
It went on to say the area could provide up to 12 per cent of the national wind energy potential, and was second only to the Foveaux Strait and South East Hills area in the South Island.
The wind farm, which is run by Genesis Energy, pre-dates the establishment of the company by three years, with Genesis having gained control over it, and multiple other power assets, after the reform of the New Zealand electricity market and the breakup of the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand (ECNZ) in 1999. Hau Nui was initially set up as part of the now-defunct Wairarapa Electricity.
Hau Nui has 15 wind turbines – seven of which were installed in 1996 and an additional, more modern, eight turbines, which were installed in 2004.
At the time of the farm’s opening, Jeff Kendrew, general manager of distribution for Wairarapa Electricity, expected the $9 million wind plant to have a 20-year-plus working life – an estimate that has since proved true.
Unlike so many energy projects in New Zealand, Hau Nui received strong public interest and local support from the outset and throughout its construction, so much so that a nearby visitor information area was also built in time for the farm’s June opening.
Fast-forward 10 years to the controversial Project Hayes wind farm proposal in Central Otago’s Lammermoor Range, and you would find a much less-accepting public, despite an increasing need for renewable energy. Objectors included painter Grahame Sydney and former All Black Anton Oliver, who said the Meridian-led site would cause ‘‘unconscionable’’ damage to tussock uplands and heritage gold trail sites for low returns to the public. Resource consent was overturned by the Environment Court in 2009.
Another proposal, the Mt Cass wind farm in Canterbury, had its resource consent application declined by the Hurunui District Council in 2009. Commissioners Paul Rogers, Paul Thomas and Dean Chrystal said a wind farm on the ridge between Mt Cass and Totara Peak would be ‘‘inappropriate’’ because it would degrade an outstanding natural feature of national significance.
Environmental groups called the decision a win for conservation. However, MainPower, the company behind the proposal, appealed to the Environment Court and, in 2011, consent was approved.
With objections to new windbased energy projects not uncommon, the government target of 90 per cent renewable energy generation by 2025 appears to be less of a straightforward goal than it did more than 20 years ago when Hau Nui popped up.