Project Hayes

Was Meridian Energy's decision late last week to shelve its $2 billion Project Hayes wind farm in Central Otago a lost opportunity for establishing renewable energy in this country on a grand scale - or simply a "prudent commercial decision" by the power company giant?

In the wake of the Project Hayes decision, it is business as usual for Contact Energy, weighing up options for hydro development on the Clutha River, and Pioneer Generation, looking at small-scale wind farms.

Ratepayers will be footing the bill - $211,000- for the Central Otago District Council's involvement in the Project Hayes appeal.

Six years after it announced plans for a controversial $2 billion wind farm on the Lammermoor Range and after spending $8.9 million on the project, Meridian Energy has pulled the pin on them.

All parties involved in the battle over Project Hayes agree on one thing - it has been an expensive exercise.

Energy company Meridian is withdrawing its Environment Court appeal for resource consents for Project Hayes, the wind farm proposed for the Lammermoor Range in Central Otago.

The $2 billion Project Hayes wind farm is still in limbo, tied up in legal proceedings, almost five years after Meridian Energy first sought resource consent for the project.

Project Hayes wind farm opponents Save Central will decide this week whether to pursue the case in the Court of Appeal.

Details of the next round of legal proceedings on the Project Hayes wind farm will be decided at a conference in Dunedin in mid-November.

The legal proceedings on Meridian Energy's planned $2 billion Project Hayes wind farm may be far from over.