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Long Gully

Wellington City Council has granted Windflow Technology consent for a 25-turbine wind farm on the outskirts of Wellington.

Submissions on the consent application closed on 26 June 2009. Wellington City Council received 74 submissions, with 38 in support, 27 opposed and nine neutral. A hearing for the application was held in August 2009. Appeals against the decision to grant consent were resolved in 2010.

Factors that influenced the Commissioners' decision to grant consent included that the scale of the proposed project would result in efficient use of site's wind resource and enable existing infrastructure - including roads and transmission - to be used. They also noted the site was near to an electricity demand centre that "would benefit from the development of a renewable energy resource that does not produce greenhouse gas emissions."

The proposed Long Gully windfarm could have a capacity of up to 12.5MW. It would supply its electricity directly into the local power line network.

The wind turbine Windflow proposed to use at Long Gully, the Windflow 500, is similar in height to the nearby Brooklyn wind turbine, but it has just over double the capacity. The New Zealand-made Windflow 500 is 47 metres high from the base to the top of the blade. Its two blades have a 33 diameter.

Windflow managed the consent application on behalf of Might River Power. Mighty River Power has since announced it will not proceed with the project. Windflow has considered other options for building the wind farm but the consent has now lapsed.

More information

Windflow Technology's Long Gully project website

Location

To see where the wind farm would be sited, change the view to satellite and zoom in.