Aquila Clean Energy has gained land access to build a proposed 130MW, 19-turbine, wind farm development immediately behind the Waitaki Valley township of Kurow.
In a project update released to the community on Monday, Aquila said the proposed layout on the designated site was now ‘‘under revision’’.
This was due to community feedback, technical assessments and further information on wind resources work to update the project design, Aquila said in the update.
‘‘As a result, we are exploring options for how the wind turbines and relevant infrastructure are positioned on site ...
‘‘The number of turbines, their size and their location may be fine-tuned in response to the environmental effects assessments, however the total output of the wind farm is expected to stay close to 130MW.’’
They say the wind conditions in the area suggest ‘‘a world-class resource’’.
Aquila plans to lodge consent applications to the Waitaki District Council and Environment Canterbury later this year.
Aquila said in its latest update, that an updated project site map based on its current revisions would be shared once confirmed.
‘‘We plan to hold another face-to-face community engagement session prior to lodging the resource consent application later this year.’’
Proximity to the Transpower national grid network for the Waitaki Valley hydro schemes has been previously cited as a logistical advantage for the proposed site - on either side of the Awakino River, across 1800ha on two hill-country farm properties.
Once built turbines up to 200m tall - at maximum tip height from the ground and a maximum rotor diameter of 178m - will be visible on Te Kohurau (Kurow Hill) and across the Waitaki Valley vista.
Aquila held its community engagement sessions in Kurow on December 3.
On Monday Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said there had been no further contact from Aquila since late last year.
Aquila privately briefed councillors, prior to its community engagement in Kurow.
The project update notes the proposal is still in the early development stage with ‘‘effects assessments’’ about to start in the next six months.
Aquila said it would continue consultations in the meantime.
In parallel, technical assessments including ecology, landscape and visual and acoustic assessments would inform its planned consent application, Aquila said.
The assessments include installing wind measurement equipment.
‘‘Based on existing data, the proposed wind farm has a high average speed, and a high total percentage of time the wind blows in a year.
‘‘These two points suggest a world class wind resource at Kurow.’’
Aquila said it would establish a meteorological mast and LiDAR wind monitoring equipment.
This was to validate the current ‘‘generalised’’ data with site-specific records over a 12-month period.
