A neighbour of the Mahinerangi wind farm says nothing can alter a landscape more than building a wind farm on it.
Mercury Energy is proposing to build the second stage of the Mahinerangi wind farm and has been accepted into the fast-track process.
The plan is to build 44 turbines, able to produce up to 190MW and an annual generation of about 550GWh, enough to power the equivalent of about 68,000 average homes every year.
It is also seeking consent to construct a new 110kV transmission line, a substation and a battery energy storage system on the wind farm site with an output of 60MW, capable of supplying energy for two hours during peak demand.
The full wind farm site covers about 1700ha on the eastern foothills of Lammermoor Range, about 5km north of Lake Mahinerangi and 50km west of Dunedin.
The process has reached the stage when comments have been invited by interested parties.
Neighbouring farmer Lindsay Brown was one of only two members of the public to have made a submission. He is the co-owner of the Tarndale property, and has lived in the area for 47 years, choosing the area because of the landscape and the peaceful environment.
He said experts had their view on landscape effects, but they did not speak for him.
"It is no surprise to me that wind farms are not built in cities or populated areas because we all know they would never get consent," he said.
"In my view, there is nothing you can do to alter a landscape more than build a wind farm in it. I have some qualifications to hold this view. We already have 12.
"Where we now look at the beautiful, bulky, brooding, Lammermoor Range, we will see 44 more gigantic white moving turbines and little else."
He said to look beyond them was near impossible because of the movement.
"On top of that there is the jumbled effect where they rotate at different rates and some only appear as blade tips randomly appearing and disappearing. This all adds up to a sensory mismatch that the brain constantly tries to make sense of, but can’t."
At night, senses are assaulted by randomly timed flashing red lights.
He said the paid experts, consultants, contractors, construction crews all have one thing in common — they all leave.
"We live with the negative effects day and night. To complain invites the label ‘nimby’, which is simply an insult to bully people into submission."
He was fully aware he was unable to change anything, but would like the panel members to understand what the project would take from him.
The Clutha District Council said the adverse effects of the wind farm were established through the existing resource consent, and the modifications sought in this application were not a significant departure in terms of those adverse effects.
The council did not have concerns with the proposed overhead transmission lines.
