Te Uku Wind Farm
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Te Uku Wind Farm 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 ...
located at Te Uku near Raglan. It has a capacity of 64 MW using 28 wind turbines. Construction was completed in March 2011, at a cost of $200 million. The farm covers an area of approximately . The wind farm is jointly owned by WEL Networks and
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 ...
. Resource consent was granted in May 2008 and appeals were resolved by November 2008. Construction of the wind farm began in 2010. Hick Bros Civil and Spartan Construction won an award for outstanding technical and environmental planning. The wind farm was officially opened by Prime Minister
John Key Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th prime minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as leader of the National Party from 2006 to 2016. Following his father's death when ...
in February 2011. Te Uku was fully operational on 10 March 2011. Te Uku Windfarm is controlled from
Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
where Meridian has its control centre for running all of their New Zealand Hydro and Wind generation assets. The windfarm is linked to the national grid at Te Kowhai substation by about of 33 kV lines on 159 steel poles built on concrete pile foundations and an underground cable from just west of Waitetuna Valley Rd to Cogswell Rd, a total of about .


Construction

Each 130.5 m. high, 318 tonne,
turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...
took 2 or 3 days to build using 4 cranes, the largest a 600 tonne KR Wind/NZ Crane Group Alliance crane. Towers were formed in 3 sections (made in
Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
), and topped by
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
components (as at
Makara Makara () is a legendary sea-creature in Hindu mythology. In Hindu astrology, Makara is equivalent to the Zodiac sign Capricorn. Makara appears as the vahana (vehicle) of the river goddess Ganga, Narmada, and of the god of the ocean, Varun ...
) - a 3.5 m circumference, 81 tonne
nacelle A nacelle ( ) is a streamlined container for aircraft parts such as Aircraft engine, engines, fuel or equipment. When attached entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached with a Hardpoint#Pylon, pylo ...
, hub and 3 turbine blades. Barge transport was considered, but rejected in favour of road transporters running from September 2010 to January 2011. File:A 10.9 tonne 49m long Siemens turbine blade for Te Uku windfarm waits at the summit of SH23 before heading towards Raglan.jpg, A 10.9 tonne 49m long Siemens turbine blade waits at the summit of SH23 for its scheduled time to close the road in November 2010. File:A 54 tonne 27m long Korean built segment of a Te Uku windfarm tower descends SH23 towards Raglan.jpg, A 54 tonne 27m long Korean built tower segment descends SH23 on its journey from Ports of Auckland in November 2010. File:Pipiwharauroa Way approaching the Pakihi Stream crossing..JPG, The part-formed cutting through Okete Volcanics rock has been widened twice since 2003. File:Beyond Pipiwharauroa Way on the Vandy Rd side of the summit the part formed Plateau Rd drops through a rock cutting about 300 metres long, 3 metres wide and up to 3 metres deep..JPG, On the Vandy Rd side of the summit the part-formed Plateau Rd drops through a rock cutting about 300 metres long, 3 metres wide and up to 3 metres deep. In the 1940s it is said a car managed to follow this road, though it is now very difficult to get a mountain bike along it.


Pipiwharauroa Way

One of the
mitigation Mitigation is the reduction of something harmful that has occurred or the reduction of its harmful effects. It may refer to measures taken to reduce the harmful effects of hazards that remain ''in potentia'', or to manage harmful incidents that ...
measures was this walking and cycling track. The track climbs from a car park on Kawhia Rd, near Bridal Veil, runs about 6 km and climbs 280m to the windfarm on Wharauroa Plateau. Over 2 km of less interesting walking can be saved if the walk is started from the gate at the end of the driveable part of Plateau Rd. From this point Lake Disappear can be seen to the south after wet weather. The track peters out into the partly formed paper road (see the dashed line on th
1:50,000 map
just north of the Pakihi Stream). It follows an ancient Maori track which was often used by warriors on raids between Waikato and Kawhia. The road access to the windfarm largely followed the paper road, which was started around 1900 (a local historian, Bob Vernon, wrote that a store ledger started at Te Mata in 1896 includes at least 11 workers on the road) and seemingly abandoned a few years later, though Bob Vernon also wrote, "about 1919 the Public Works Department cut a six-foot track through solid bush, from the south-eastern end of the plateau here it joins this paper roadto the head of the Makomako valley". In 2013 there was controversy between a local farmer and Waikato District Council about whether Pipiwharauroa Way could be closed for the lambing season.


Microwave tower

From the 1970s a microwave tower has been on the crest of the hill overlooking Te Uku. It is now also part of a
smart meter A smart meter is an electronic device that records information—such as consumption of electric energy, voltage levels, current, and power factor—and communicates the information to the consumer and electricity suppliers. Advanced meterin ...
ing network. There is also a VHF repeater near the tower.


See also

* List of power stations in New Zealand *
Wind power in New Zealand Wind power constitutes a small but growing proportion of New Zealand's electricity. As of November 2023, wind power accounts for 1,059 MW of installed capacity and over 6 percent of electricity generated in the country. New Zealand has ab ...
* Pakoka River - photo of wind farm and item on mitigation work.


References


External links


Te Uku Wind Farm
at WEL Networks - refers to 25 km transmission line to link with grid
Siemens turbine brochurePipiwharauroa Way on Raglan23 website
* The towers are made of steel, not concrete. And are only 80 metres tall, with 49m blades, making a total of 130m.

* ttp://gorgeouswithattitude.blogspot.com/2010/09/1st-blade-wends-way-to-wind-farm.html?m=1 Photos of the turbines on the roads near Whatawhata {{wind power Buildings and structures in Waikato Raglan, New Zealand Wind farms in New Zealand