Palmerston North City Council will likely oppose some turbines in the Turitea Wind Farm, despite being contractually involved with the power company, city mayor Jono Naylor said. ...The council was contracted to provide reserve land for most of the turbines, and the terms meant it would be unable to comment on those. But it would be free to submit on the turbines planned for private land.

The Environment Court has confirmed the resource consent conditions for the massive Mahinerangi Windfarm in Otago, despite high profile opposition from former All Black Anton Oliver and poet Brian Turner, says power company TrustPower. Opponents now have a chance to make submissions on a revised layout for the farm's turbines. The 200MW farm, which would be the largest in New Zealand, would overlook Lake Mahinerangi from the foothills of the Lammerlaw range, 40km west of Dunedin. ...TrustPower community relations manager Graeme Purches said the company would now assess the economic viability of the project, with a view to being in a position to proceed when economic conditions gelled.

Unison has applied to add 34 turbines to 15 already approved for a site on Te Waka Range near Te Pohue, on the Napier-Taupo Road. The application, being heard in Napier, began this week. Unison tried last year to get consent for an extra 37 turbines, saying the original 15 were not viable. Another firm, Hawke's Bay Windfarms, already has consent to erect 75 turbines nearby and the Environment Court said the cumulative effect of turbines on the skyline west of Hawke's Bay would be excessive.

Plans to notify the Turitea wind farm have stalled again following news a call-in decision is imminent. After announcing last month that Mighty River Power's application for the 131-turbine wind farm would be publicly notified, despite still waiting on a ministerial call-in decision, Palmerston North City Council has back-pedalled after news Environment Minister Nick Smith plans to announce his decision in the next week.

The Environment Court has given the go-ahead for Wel Networks' Te Uku wind farm to proceed. The consent order allowing the wind farm follows the successful mediation of outstanding appeals - and the fact ardent wind farm opponent Sean Cox has withdrawn from the fray on health grounds. Mitigation measures agreed by the parties included the formation of a community liaison group, alleviation of some visual concerns, and the relocation of the controversial turbine 29 near Hidden Valley.

Three parties appealed the granting of resource consents for the wind farm; but these have now been settled after agreement over ways to mitigate their concerns. Measures includes the setting up of a community liaison group.

New Zealand Windfarms Ltd has lodged an application to build a small wind farm on one of the highest points in the Clutha district after spending most of this year investigating the site. The Clutha District Council received the resource consent application last Friday and it appears it will not be publicly notified as the company already has permission from the only affected landowner.

Details of a wind farm on rugged hills southwest of Brooklyn have been made public. The 28-turbine proposal for Long Gully will be discussed at public meetings in Wellington this week before a resource consent application is lodged with the city council in mid-December. State-owned Mighty River Power would own and operate the farm and Windflow Technology, a Christchurch turbine manufacturer, would construct it.

The application for the 131-turbine wind farm was lodged on August 14, and the council had expected to publicly notify the application last month. But, the process stalled after MRP applied to the Environment Minister for a ministerial call-in. That would have fast-tracked the application, because the resource consent process would be taken out of council's hands, and instead referred directly to either a board of inquiry or the Environment Court.

After hearings in Alexandra and Cromwell, the Project Hayes wind farm saga will resume in a different town early next year - Queenstown. Dates for four weekly sessions of the Environment Court appeal process were confirmed yesterday, starting on January 19. No-one was available yesterday to explain why Queenstown had been chosen for the resumption of the appeal hearing, which was adjourned in Cromwell on August 8 by Judge Jon Jackson.

The Palmerston North City Council last night took the first steps towards developing best-practice guidelines for the development of wind farms in the city's boundaries. At the planning and policy committee meeting, councillors voted to instruct staff to start working on guidelines to help steer wind-farm development in the future. The idea was moved by Cr Michael Feyen, and seconded by Cr John Hornblow. Cr Feyen said it was essential to start the ball rolling, before the hills were inundated with turbines.

The plug is set to be pulled on a multimillion-dollar Wellington wind farm proposal because of visual pollution concerns, despite a winter of power cut fears. A report by Greater Wellington regional council recommends a five-year moratorium on wind farm development at Belmont Regional Park, five years after the council called the site a "world-class wind farm opportunity".

The Palmerston North City Council received the resource consent application in August, and had expected to publicly notify it in early October. But the council was now waiting to hear the outcome of a ministerial call-in application, Mayor Jono Naylor said. "The council's role will be different if the minister does call it in. We don't want to be spending a whole lot of time and money going down one path."

The proposed Central Wind project has attracted a powerful supporter, the Crown. Environment Minister Trevor Mallard has submitted a 10-page submission in support of the controversial northern Rangitikei project. Meridian Energy wants to erect 52 turbines on the border of the Rangitikei and Ruapehu districts. A committee made up of Horizons, Rangitikei, and Ruapehu representatives and independent members is considering the resource consent application. However, some local residents oppose the plan.

Trustpower's appeal against the resource consent for its $380 million wind farm near Gore was likely to be resolved without going to an Environment Court hearing, Gore district planner Keith Hovell said yesterday. ...The levy, which was set by the Gore District Council's consent panel at 0.2 percent of the project's cost, or about $760,000, was one of three consent conditions Trustpower has objected to. Its appeal also opposed shadow flicker rules and the composition of a community consultation group.

State-owned Mighty River Power is asking Government to fast-track its application to build a 131-turbine wind farm near Palmerston North. The environment minister can "call in" a proposal if it is deemed to be of national significance and direct the matter to either a board of inquiry or the Environment Court. Last week Environment Minister Trevor Mallard said he was calling in Contact Energy's proposal for a 180-turbine 540-megawatt (MW) wind farm near Raglan.

Contact Energy has filed resource consent applications with the Tararua District Council for a 177 megawatt (MW) wind farm southeast of Dannevirke. The Waitahora project on the Puketoi Range would have up to 65 turbines ...

Yesterday, Palmerston North Mayor Jono Naylor received a letter from Mr Mallard notifying the council of the application for a "call-in". Resource consent applications for the proposed wind farm were lodged with local councils on August 8, and the city council had planned to appoint independent commissioners to hear the consent application, a process that could then be appealed to the Environment Court. But a call-in would mean the local authorities would lose the decision- making power ...

Horizons Regional Council is calling on local councils to get firm on where wind farms can go in Manawatu-Wanganui, or residents will have no certainty about what's being built next, or where. ..."The issue of wind farms has come along really quickly." The rules about what could go where had to be clarified, to put an end to the current case-by-case situation, he said. "They are dealt with in an ad-hoc method."

Environment Minister Trevor Mallard this week announced his intention to "call in" the 180 turbine Hauauru ma Raki wind farm planned for construction between Te Akau and Port Waikato. ...But while the move has been welcomed by applicants Contact Energy and Contact Wind, all three councils have told the Environment Ministry they consider such intervention inappropriate.