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News articles - 2005

Domestic
International

Domestic

23-Dec-'05 Electricity Commission releases consultation on substantial nation-wide wind penetration scenarios
The Electricity Commission today released a consultation on a variety of scenarios for wind penetration, in varying amounts and across 10 key regions around the country. The scenarios envisage a combined maximum of 2,250 MW of wind nationwide by 2016. The NZWEA welcomed this consultation as it provides further indication that Government and key decision makers, are planning for significant wind energy penetration in the next few years. Details»
22-Dec-'05 Environment Court grants final approval for 18 MW Awhitu wind farm following agreement by all parties on conditions
The Environment Court today said that all parties had agreed to the conditions relating the construction and operation of the Genesis Energy Awhitu wind farm. As a result the Environment Court announced that a resource consent had been granted. Genesis Energy welcomed the news and said they were looking forward to moving ahead with the project early in 2006. Details»
21-Dec-'05 Wellington City Council grants Resource Consent to Meridian Energy's 210 MW West Wind wind farm
After an exhaustive public consultation and hearings process, the WCC Commissioners today granted a Resource Consent for all 70 turbines in the original proposal submitted by Meridian Energy. The project will consist of 70 turbines with a maximum capacity of 210 MW and it will be situated just a few kilometres to the South West of Wellington between Makara Beach and Cape Terawhiti. Details»
01-Dec-'05 New Zealand wind industry 'Quietly leading the world'. WindPower Monthly December edition
The leader article in this month's edition of the leading global wind industry publication 'WindPower Monthly' is titled 'Quietly Leading the World'. The article, from the CEO of the NZWEA, notes that New Zealand is probably the first major country anywhere in the world where wind energy can compete, on a cost basis, with all other thermal and renewable options. The article examines the implications of this for the further development of the wind industry. The WPM article ( 33kB)
27-Oct-'05 NZWEA welcomes second half of Transpower's Manawatu wind generation report
The report considers how wind capacity affects grid frequency, how the accuracy of wind forecasts affect system management, an assessment of changes in power flows across the grid as a result of changes in output from wind turbines and other wind related grid integration issues. It finds that the observed and expected impacts of significant wind integration are considered to be manageable. Details
08-Sep-'05 Environment Court grants resource consent, subject to conditions being approved by all parties, to 18 MW Awhitu wind farm. In a landmark ruling a resource consent was today granted to the first wind farm case to be heard in the Environment Court - the 18 MW Genesis wind farm near Waiuku. The decision is warmly welcomed as it upholds the essential purpose of the Resource Management Act while at the same time affording protection to the natural environment and increased certainty to wind farm developers. Details
31-Aug-'05 Successful annual Wind Energy conference draws positive conclusions on key issues. The New Zealand Wind Energy Association's annual conference concluded today. A number of areas were addressed in the conference including some of the key ones such as wind/grid integration, community support for wind energy and sound emissions of wind turbines. The conference concluded with a summary of some of the hundreds of megawatts of wind projects currently under development. Details
19-Aug-'05 Planning permission granted for 48 MW Unison Wind farm in Hawkes Bay. The Hastings District Council hearings committee today approved all 16 of the turbines in Unison's 48 MW wind farm Resource Consent application. Chairwoman Dinah Williams noted "we are so often saying 'no' to things and putting in regulations for the sake of 'what if'". In this instance and given all the other benefits, the Council clearly decided that 'what if' was not good enough! Details
08-Jul-'05 Resource consent lodged for 210 MW West Wind wind farm. Meridian Energy today lodged resource consent applications to build New Zealand's largest wind farm to the west of Wellington. The applications were filed with Wellington City Council and Greater Wellington Regional Council and publicly notified today. The public has until August 10 to make submissions on the proposal. www.meridianenergy.co.nz
05-Jul-'05 Consent granted to 31 of 40 proposed Tararua Stage 3 turbines. Palmerston North City and Tararua District Councils today released their decision on TrustPower's Tararua Stage 3 (T3) wind farm in the Manawatu. Consent was granted to 31 of the proposed 40 turbines at the site. Since TrustPower has already announced its intention to use 3 MW machines this suggests that the T3 wind farm will have an installed capacity of 93 MW - the largest in the country. www.trustpower.co.nz
27-Jun-'05 22-turbine Puketiro wind farm community consultation gets underway. Greater Wellington Regional Council this week began a community consultation process on a possible wind farm development, with an expected capacity of 25 MW, at Puketiro, an area to the east of Battle Hill Forest Park just outside Wellington. If, following this consultation, the Council decides to proceed it will seek competitive proposals from potential wind farm developers. Details
27-Jun-'05 NZWEA responds to attack, from MEUG, on wind energy. In a 20 June article the Major Electricity Users Group argued that the wind energy industry is excessively subsidised and implied also that wind turbines are an inefficient and unreliable method of generating electricity. NZWEA responded with an article in the NZ Herald on 27 June. In it we addressed all the MEUG concerns and also pointed out that the thermal generation industry has been the recipient of extensive taxpayer support for more than thirty years. This culminated most recently in the sizeable (but as yet confidential) taxpayer subsidy given to Genesis for a 385 MW gas fired power station in 2004. www.nzherald.co.nz
13-Jun-'05 48 MW wind farm proposed 35 kms north-west of Napier. Unison has lodged a resource consent application with Hastings District Council for the 48 MW Stage I portion of its proposed 120 MW wind farm located near Te Pohue 35 km north-west of Napier on State highway 5. The project has been broken into two stages for geographical, commercial and technical reasons. Stage I has focused on the Titiokura Saddle site only. Details
02-Jun-'05 210 MW wind farm announced for Wellington. Meridian Energy today announced a 210 MW development to the west of Wellington City. It is proposed that the project will consist of up to 70 wind turbines. It will generate electricity for more than 90 per cent of the time, is expected to have a capacity utilisation factor of 47 per cent and will produce more than 2 per cent of the nation's electricity. Details
27-May-'05

July construction start for 60 MW White Hill wind farm. According to a release from Meridian, construction is scheduled to begin in July on New Zealand's next large scale wind farm development at White Hill in Southland. If all goes according to plan (and if the weather behaves) the wind farm will produce its first power in April or May of next year and will be fully commissioned in the third quarter. It will consist of 29 turbines each of 2 MW.
20-May-'05 Agreement reached on Te Rere Hau 50 MW wind farm. NZ Windfarms has reached an agreement to settle all appeals against its Resource Consent granted in February. The Company announced that in mediation with appellants, including the Aokautere Guardians, it had agreed to remove seven of its proposed 104 turbines from the wind farm which will mitigate visual issues for residents. www.windflow.co.nz
16-May-'05 Wind/grid integration study suggests that 2,000 MW of wind is possible. An MED/EECA study released today indicates that 2,000 MW of wind turbines could be integrated into the NZ grid without adversely affecting system security. This report is the first comprehensive nationwide study to examine the limits for wind energy penetration and it is to be welcomed for the informed debate it will stimulate. Details
18-Apr-'05 180-220 MW wind farm proposed for Hawke's Bay. Wind farm Developments today announced plans for a wind farm of up to 220 MW in the Hawke's Bay area. The company behind the proposal (Hawke's Bay Wind Farm Ltd) intends to develop 60-80 turbines across three farms. They intend to lodge a resource consent application with Hastings District Council in May. Hawkes Bay Wind Farm web site.
15-Mar-'05 Wind energy fastest growing form of generation. 1,000 MW now competitive. Speaking on day one of the National Power Conference in Auckland, NZWEA's CEO noted that wind energy was the fastest growing form of electricity generation last year with 360% annual growth and 130 MW of new capacity installed. He went on to say that the wind industry is now aware of 1,000 MW of capacity that could be installed nationwide at competitive prices.
NZ Herald article
NZWEA press release ( 61kB)
03-Mar-'05 National Power Summit: Low prices a thing of the past. The annual National Power conference took place this week. In amongst the detail a couple of clear messages were heard. The first of these was that the era of cheap electricity, that has characterised the global electricity industry for much of the last 20+ years, is coming to an end: Not only in New Zealand but around the world. The other major change, also globally, is that the last 20 years have seen minimal investment in either of generation or transmission assets. This has to change in the immediate future; if it does not the lights will start going out with increasing frequency.
24-Feb-'05 Meridian says Waitaki water allocation plan threatens generation. The Waitaki Catchment Water Allocation Board (WACB) on Saturday released the draft water allocation plan for public comment. Yesterday, Meridian chief executive Dr Keith Turner warned the allocation plan threatened the efficient operation of what was a cornerstone of the country's electricity supply. Not only did the plan threaten security of electricity supply in the South Island, it also had serious implications for electricity supply over the whole country. The Waitaki River system contains about 66 per cent of New Zealand's hydro storage and produces about 25 per cent of its electricity. Otago Daily Times press release
14-Feb-'05 Consent granted to 52MW Te Rere Hau. NZ Windfarms, a wholly owned subsidiary and spin-off of, Christchurch based Windflow Technology, has been given the go ahead for a 250 hectare wind farm near Palmerston North. The development should see the first turbines installed this year and is expected to have an installed capacity of 52MW by the time it is completed at the end of 2008: News article and Windflow Technology press release
10-Feb-'05 Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF & ECO website urges New Zealand to say 'yes to wind'. The website was launched today by Greenpeace, and endorsed and supported by three national environmental groups: The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, WWF New Zealand and the Environment and Conservation Organisation of New Zealand (ECO).
The environmentalists say the technology can boost jobs and tourism while fighting climate change. Commenting on wind power at the launch of the site, Cindy Baxter, Greenpeace campaign manager, noted that the site is there to answer any questions that any member of the public may have about wind power. www.yes2wind.co.nz
30-Jan-'05 NZ placed #4 globally in 2004 per capita turbine installations.Data on installed capacity of wind turbines by country shows that, with 33.5 watts/capita, NZ installed more wind energy last year per head of population than any other country in the world apart from Spain, Ireland and Luxembourg . Spain managed an installation rate of 52.4 watts/capita, Ireland 40.0 and Luxembourg 35.0. NZ beat traditional heavyweights such as Germany (24.8) and was well ahead of Australia (9.4). Details
25-Jan-'05 Anti-wind lobby group's complaint rejected by Advertising Standards. In July of last year an anti-wind farm group laid a formal complaint with the Advertising Standards Complaints Board (ASCB) against the New Zealand Wind Energy Association. The ASCB today announced, after examining the evidence provided by both parties, that there was no material to support the complainants allegation that NZWEA had engaged in a "deliberate attempt to mislead the public". The complaint was therefore dismissed - a decision which was strongly welcomed by NZWEA. Details
21-Jan-'05 NZWEA makes additional submission re Wellington District Plan Change. NZWEA made a formal submission re the Wellington District Plan change in July of last year (Details) however having read the numerous other submissions that have been made it is clear that there is still alot of mis-information being circulated regarding wind turbines. For this reason NZWEA today made an additional submission to the Wellington City Council which contains factual data regarding some of the most commonly asked questions relating to wind energy. ( 521kB)
17-Jan-'05 Climate change office releases details of 2003 Emission Unit awards. Since early 2004 news of successful projects under the 2003 Projects to Reduce Emissions tender round have been emerging in dribs and drabs. CCO today published a complete list of all projects. A total of 3,949,373 emissions units were awarded to 15 different projects owned by 11 different companies. Four wind farm projects (Awhitu, Te Rere Hau, Hau Nui extension and Wainui Hills) received a total of 1,227,414 units or 31% of the total offered.
Table of project awards. www.climatechange.govt.nz.

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International

11-Mar-'05 Belgium. Global Wind Energy Council officially launched. The Global Wind Energy Council - GWEC - was launched in Brussels with the support of the largest national and continental wind energy associations from across the world (Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Japan, India and the USA), and representatives of the wind industry's leading manufacturers and developers. EU Energy Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, speaking at the opening, said; “Today's event confirms the truly global nature of the wind energy industry and energy related challenges in general. I see this initiative as an additional sign of the maturity that the wind industry is starting to reach". GWEC web site
04-Mar-'05 Global. Global wind industry installation statistics for 2004. These were released today by the Global Wind Energy Council. In 2004 7,976 MW of wind capacity was installed globally; this represented a year-on-year increase of 20 per cent. The countries with the highest installed capacity are Germany (16,629 MW), United States (6,740 MW), Denmark (3,117 MW) and India (3,000 MW).
Download the GWEC press release ( 240kB) alternatively the data is on the NZWEA web site if you have a slower download speed. (Details)
03-Mar-'05 Germany. Energy Agency wind/grid integration study released. The study 'Integration of wind energy into the grid' was finally released by the German Energy Agency (DENA). An english language press release is available from DENA as well as VDMA (the principal study authors) and also from the German Wind Energy Association (BWEA). The study focuses on the integration of 37,000 MW of wind energy in Germany by 2015. The report notes that the cost of the requisite grid upgrade is modest (€1.1bn) although it does seem to be questioning the economic wisdom of using wind turbines to reduce carbon emissions in Germany - a country with significantly less wind resource than New Zealand.
DENA press release
VDMA press release
BWE press release
28-Feb-'05 China. Renewable Energy law adopted four months ahead of schedule. The top legislative body in Beijing, the National People's Congress, today adopted the Renewable Energy Law four months earlier than expected. The law should help to fulfil government's plans to lift the share of renewables in total electricity consumption from 3% in 2003 to 10% by 2020. Regional authorities now have nine months to implement the directives of the National People's Congress and to transform them into regional laws and development plans. Considerable freedom at the regional level seems likely as Beijing did not give precise instructions as to how to proceed in detail. A key feature of the framework law is the provision that grid companies shall be required to sign power purchase agreements with renewable energy producers to buy all the electricity they produce.
An unofficial translation of the law is on the EWEA web site. ( 80kB)
17-Feb-'05 US. Scripps Institute produces "first clear evidence" of warming in world's oceans. Scientists at the world-renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, have produced what they say is the first clear evidence of human-produced warming in the world's oceans, a finding they say removes much of the uncertainty associated with debates about global warming. Scripps Institute Press release
15-Feb-'05 US. Head of ChevronTexaco warns of East-West oil bidding war. The head of ChevronTexaco today called on the US government to build growing competition for Middle East oil with Asian consumers into a new national energy policy, or risk harming future economic growth.
Dave O'Reilly, chairman and chief executive of the second largest US oil and gas group, pointed to the closer ties between consumers such as China and India and Middle East producers at a time when cheap-to-find oil was becoming more scarce. "We're seeing the beginnings of a bidding war for Middle Eastern oil between east and west," said Mr O'Reilly in a keynote address to a Houston energy conference. www.ft.com
02-Feb-'05 UK. British Antarctic Survey warns that glaciers are thinning fast. The Director of the BAS, Professor Chris Rapley, was speaking at a UK Meteorological office conference ('Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change: A Scientific Symposium on Stabilisation of Greenhouse Gases'). He said "Satellite measurements tell us that a significant part of the West Antarctic ice sheet in this area is thinning fast enough to make a significant contribution to sea level rise, but for the present, our understanding of the reason for this change is little better than hypothesis. The last IPCC report characterised Antarctica as a slumbering giant in terms of climate change. I would say that this is now an awakened giant. There is real cause for concern." BAS Press release
Feb-'05 US. The Peaking of World Oil Production, Impacts, Mitigation and Risk Management. The US Government has long denied that it should base any of its policy around the concept that global oil production may be approaching a peak. However this Government commissioned and well authored, report makes a very convincing argument otherwise. It notes that the economic, social and cultural impacts of peak oil are very real and are most likely to have very significant impacts on both the US and global economies. Details
31-Jan-'05 NZ Placed #4 globally in 2004 per capita turbine installations. Data on installed capacity of wind turbines by country shows that, with 33.5 watts/capita, NZ installed more wind energy last year per head of population than any other country in the world apart from Spain, Ireland and Luxembourg . Spain managed an installation rate of 52.4 watts/capita, Ireland 40.0 and Luxembourg 35.0. NZ beat traditional heavyweights such as Germany (24.8) and was well ahead of Australia (9.4). Details
01-Jan-'05 WindPower monthly releases annual wind energy cost comparison. The January edition takes its annual look at trends in the costs of generating electricity from wind turbines. It finds that little is changed in absolute terms relative to one year ago. Nonetheless it notes that the relative economics of wind and natural gas have improved markedly as a result of sharp increases in natural gas prices in 2003 and 2004. It notes that "consequently today, wind, even on less windy sites and towards the higher end of the project cost range, is undercutting gas on both sides of the Atlantic." With the 'fall from grace' of gas the study notes that many Governments around the world are now turning their attention to coal. In New Zealand wind energy is already directly cost competitive with coal.

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