Mercury Energy has lodged an application for fast-track approval for the second stage of the Mahinerangi wind farm but said it was very much still in development and no decision had been made whether to go ahead.
The first stage was built in 2010-11 by TrustPower with 12 turbines constructed, generating 36MW.
Mercury said it had submitted a substantive application under the Fast-track Approvals Act to build stage two.
The project has moved from listed to applied under the fast-track legislation when a substantive application has to be made.
The plan for stage two comprises up to 44 turbines with installed capacity up to 190MW. It would generate about 550GWh per year, enough to power the equivalent of about 68,000 average homes.
The company was seeking consent to construct a new 110kV transmission line, a substation and a battery energy storage system on the wind farm site with a capacity of about 60MW, capable of supplying energy for two hours during peak demand.
The wind farm site is about 1700ha and is on the eastern foothills of Lammermoor Range, about 5km north of Lake Mahinerangi and 50km west of Dunedin.
Mercury generation development executive general manager Matt Tolcher said the company was happy to have submitted this wind farm project to the fast-track process.
‘‘We are still developing the project and there are still many milestones to reach before we can make a final decision on whether to construct the wind farm,’’ he said.
The company had a pipeline of generation projects at various stages of development. It had $1billion invested in three new energy projects currently being constructed: Kaiwera Downs wind farm stage two in Southland, the Kaiwaikawe wind farm in Northland and the expansion to the Ngā Tamariki geothermal station near Taupō.
Mercury staff had been working for more than 15 months to gather the significant level of detail required to complete the fast-track application for the wind farm — more detailed than what was typically required for lodgment under the standard RMA process, he said.
Consultation had started with key stakeholders and would continue.
Modern wind turbine technology led to fewer turbines to generate more energy. It also brought about a reduction in the project footprint and lowered the impact on the environment, Mercury said.
Along with the wind farm in Kaiwera Downs and the Mahinerangi development, major wind farms in the South are proposed for Slopedown in Southland and a development on 2000ha on the Kaihiku Range in South Otago.
If they are all given the green light they have the potential to produce at a maximum just under 1000MW of power — more than the Manapouri hydro power station.
