Dunedin wind farm loses major backer

The major backers of a $50 million Dunedin wind farm have ended participation in the project, but its southern founders are adamant they will continue and seek other financial backers.

The future of the proposed 50-turbine 25MW Mt Maungatua wind farm development - located on a ridge behind Mt Maungatua above the Taieri Plain - appears in doubt after its 50% backer, New Zealand Windfarms Ltd, decided to focus on its $80 million North Island wind farm, which is nearing completion.

New Zealand Windfarms chief executive Steve Cross said he did not believe a Mt Maungatua wind farm would have gained consent for turbines being erected on the highest ridges, so they would have had to be installed on lower ridges, where there was less wind.

"The best wind is on the highest ridges. That [consent issue] tipped the balance. We don't see that site as viable and it is unlikely to proceed in the near future," Mr Cross said when contacted yesterday.

New Zealand Windfarms took a 50% stake alongside local founding company Windpower Maungatua Ltd in the Mt Maungatua project in April last year.

The stake was for an an undisclosed sum - intended to provide development financing - and taken while feasibility studies were still under way. However, New Zealand Windfarms recently wrote off the $278,000 in costs to date and told Windpower Maungatua directors and shareholders it was pulling out.

Initial feasibility results were promising and a 50m mast without a turbine was installed at the Maungatua site to collect more wind data last year.

Windpower Maungatua director and shareholder David Tucker, Dunedin-based spokesman for the four southern shareholders, said there were more issues with resource consent applications than anticipated 12-15 months ago, but they would be decided through an eventual application, "not by the decision of an individual" - an apparent reference to Mr Cross.

"It is still alive. The four original shareholders are still committed to the project. We've lost our source of finance and are looking at others," Mr Tucker said when contacted yesterday.

While the New Zealand Windfarms had pulled out of Mt Maungatua to focus resources on its $80 million Te Rere Hau project in the North Island, the company had not pulled out of feasibility studies for a 10-turbine proposal on a Mt Stuart farm in South Otago, northwest of Milton.

Last July, the Windpower Maungatua project was increased in scope by 25% into a $50 million project, which would have produced enough power for 11,250 homes using 50 turbines.