Te Rere Hau is a

wind farm A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...

owned and operated by New Zealand Windfarms Ltd. It is situated on the

Tararua Ranges The Tararua Range, often referred to as the Tararua Ranges or Tararua, is one of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand. The Tararua Range runs northeast–southwest for from near Palmerston North to the upper reaches of ...

, approximately 11 km east of

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; , colloquially known as Palmerston or Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatū Plains, the city is near the north bank of the Manaw ...

in New Zealand.Te Rere Hau Wind Farm
In 2003, New Zealand Windfarms were assisted by the New Zealand government under the Projects to Reduce Emissions program and were issued with

Kyoto Protocol The was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that global warming is oc ...

emission units for the proposal on the grounds that it would reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The first stage was officially opened in September 2006 by RT Hon

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008 and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

and it consisted of five 500 kW turbines. Stage 2 (28 turbines) and Stage 3 (32 turbines) were completed in 2009. The final Stage 4 (32 turbines) was completed in 2011. In total Te Rere Hau has 97

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

s with a generating capacity of 48.5 MW, which is enough to power approximately 18,000 local households.''Wind bridges energy shortfall'', Electrical Automation, August/September 2007 The turbines generated a total of 123 GWh in the year up to June 2015.''NZ Windfarms Annual Report for the year ended June 2015'', NZX shareholder document, 2015 The Windflow 500 turbines, made in New Zealand by

Windflow Technology Windflow Technology was a company based in Christchurch, New Zealand, known for its unique wind turbine gearbox design and two-bladed turbines. Founded in 2000 the company was listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in 2003. In October 2008, M ...

, stand 30 metres high with a rotor diameter of 33 metres. They have a two-bladed design, making them easily distinguishable from those of the nearby Tararua and Te Āpiti wind farms. Te Rere Hau is the first commercial wind farm in the country to use locally manufactured wind turbines. By using turbines that have been designed and made in New Zealand, over 90% of the project cost stays in the country. In July 2012, after frequent complaints over noise, Palmerston North City Council (PNCC) took a case against the owners to the

Environment Court The Environment Court of New Zealand () is a specialist court for plans, resource consents and Natural environment, environmental issues. It mainly deals with issues arising under the Resource Management Act 1991, Resource Management Act, meani ...

. The court ruled that NZ Windfarms was in breach of noise limits stated in its

resource consent A resource consent is the authorisation given to certain activities or uses of natural and physical resources required under the New Zealand Resource Management Act (the "RMA"). Some activities may either be specifically authorised by the RMA or ...

and that the noise predictions supplied by NZ Windfarms in the resource consent application were wrong. PNCC CEO Paddy Clifford stated ''"we can start working towards a resolution with NZ Windfarms"''. The Environment Court ruling was successfully appealed to the High Court with judgment delivered in June 2013. The Palmerston North City Council then failed in its appeal of the High Court decision to the Court of Appeal with judgment delivered in December 2014. In April 2022, NZ Windfarms announced plans to repower the farm, replacing its Windflow-500 turbines with larger, three-bladed turbines. In February 2023 the Environmental Protection Authority appointed an expert panel to consider the application. Resource consent was granted in May 2023. In October 2023 NZ Windfarms announced that the repowering and expansion would be funded as a joint venture with

Meridian Energy Meridian Energy Limited is a New Zealand electricity generator and retailer. The company generates the largest proportion of New Zealand's electricity, generating 35 percent of the country's electricity in the year ending December 2014, and i ...

. The extension would add up to 39 new turbines with a generation capacity of up to 170 megawatts. Consent was granted for the extension in August 2024, with a duration of two years.

References

External links

{{subject bar, auto=y, d=y Wind farms in New Zealand Buildings and structures in Manawatū-Whanganui

See also

References

External links