Vehicles travelling to and from Meridian Energy's proposed $2 billion Project Hayes wind farm will have a minimal effect on road users and residents in the surrounding Central Otago area, an Environment Court hearing heard yesterday.
Meridian witness Tony Penny, a Christchurch engineer, was called to give evidence relating to the effects of vehicles associated with Project Hayes, in particular vehicles travelling on road networks to the wind farm site.
In his written evidence, Mr Penny said the effects of traffic created during the wind farm's construction and continuing operation would in most circumstances be minimal, and in other circumstances the effects could be mitigated.
"There will be the potential for some adverse transportation effects during the construction period, which is estimated at up to five years.
"These can be mitigated or avoided by adopting a Construction Traffic Management Plan that will ensure transportation effects during this period are no more than minor," Mr Penny said.
About 150km of roads will be built or upgraded to allow the development of Project Hayes, situated on the Lammermoor Range in parts of both the Central Otago and Dunedin district council areas.
Access to the site will be gained from the south via Old Dunstan Rd from State Highway 87 at Clarks Junction, and from the north via Patearoa-Paerau Rd, which is fed by roads linking from SH87 and SH85 at Ranfurly.
Both SH85 and SH87 link to SH1, which provides the main highway running along the Eastern coast of the South Island and through Dunedin.
Mr Penny said the roads to be used by Project Hayes vehicles had the capacity to accept more traffic, as the average flow was " modest", even on some of the more arterial routes.
When cross-examined by appellant John Douglas, Mr Penny admitted road users would have to be careful when driving on roads near the Project Hayes area, as well as on main arterial roads to be used by wind farm traffic from outside the district.
"There will be times when large vehicles will be travelling those roads, and that will require some careful driving from people going in opposite directions," he said.
"The nature of those roads is such that no-one's travelling at great speeds through there anyway, so I don't see it will be a huge disadvantage," he said.
Mr Penny said smaller vehicles used for maintaining the Project Hayes site would also be travel on roads in the area after its completion.
Maintenance would largely be at "random" intervals during the project's expected 20-year life span.
Day 23
PANEL: Environment Court judge Jon Jackson, commissioner Alex Sutherland, commissioner Heather McConachy, and deputy commissioner Ken Fletcher.
PROJECT: In October 2007 Meridian Energy was granted resource consent, by the Central Otago District Council and Otago Regional Council, to construct, use, and maintain a 176-turbine wind farm on the Lammermoor Range in Central Otago.
Project Hayes is the largest proposed wind farm development in the southern hemisphere, encompassing 92sq km of land.
PLAYERS: Appellants are the Upland Landscape Protection Society, John, Sue, and Andrew Douglas, the Maniototo Environmental Society, Eric and Cate Laurenson and the Eric and Cate Laurenson Family Trust, Ian and Sarah Manson and the Riverview Settlement Trust, Gaelle dit-Piquard, Ewan Carr, and Roch Sullivan.
Other parties are the Central Otago District Council and Meridian Energy. The New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Contact Energy, and Brian Miller withdrew appeals for Project Hayes.
Ewan Carr withdrew Brookside Properties and Danseys Pass Coach Inn from his own appeal. Mr Carr continues to represent himself as well as the Upland Landscape Protection Society and Gaelle dit-Piquard.
YESTERDAY'S WITNESSES: Engineer Tony Penny, of Christchurch; Lammermoor Station owner John Elliot, of Paerau Valley; raptor biologist Dr Richard Seaton, of Palmerston North; ecologist Dr Robin Mitchell, of Dunedin.
SCHEDULED FOR TODAY: Meridian will call its next witnesses, including ecologist Ruth Bartlett and Meridian Energy project delivery manager Paul Wilson.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Without building wind farms it isn't possible to study the effects on [falcons]. We need [wind farms] to be built to find those answers."
- Raptor biologist Dr Richard Seaton, of Palmerston North.
