Renewables on your doorstep: No regulations to stop it

As the number of renewable energy proposals in Wairarapa swells, there are still no national restrictions to set their distance from homes.

Many of these decisions are left to local councils who are left grappling with new industries vying to get a foothold on the land.

Nine renewable projects in Wairarapa are at various stages of development, five are seeking approval, and four have already been consented.

The Ministry for the Environment said there were no national standard “setbacks” or laws for renewable energy projects, such as wind, solar, and hydroelectricity, in rural and urban zones.

“Setbacks to address issues around ‘reverse sensitivity’ (the vulnerability of an established project), are typically covered in councils’ district plans.”

“While the Environment Court can’t change local bylaws, it can override local provisions (under the Resource Management Act 1991).”

Setbacks, which define the distance between a building — including renewable energy projects — and a property boundary, were covered by rules in the Wairarapa Combined District Plan to which the three Wairarapa district councils adhered.

Hastwell Mount Munro Protection Society chair Chris Clarke said that the “sudden rush” to build renewable power in Wairarapa could potentially have severe impacts on the region.

“We do not have any [national] rules or guidelines pertaining to distance of wind farms or for that matter solar farms from homes and we need these,” he said.

Clark presented evidence in the Environment Court hearing opposing Meridian Energy’s Mt Munro Wind Farm last week, which proposed building turbines between a few hundred metres and 2km from 24 homes.

“With wind farms being built closer to communities and people's homes there is a growing resistance to this not only in New Zealand but in other parts of the world,” he said.

“We have had examples in New Zealand such as a High Court ruling in Palmerston North citing 1.5 kilometres as the minimum distance.

“The British House of Commons has also made a ruling.”

Jill Greathead of the South Wairarapa Whenua Advisory Group (SWWAG) administration team said, in the Far North Solar Farm application for Greytown, the landowner had requested 300m from his dwelling and district plan setbacks from waterways.

These will be tested in the Far North Solar Farm Environment Court hearing being reconvened on November 12 and hopefully would go towards setting a national precedent, she said.

A Carterton District Council spokesperson said that if renewable energy were considered a building or structure, then the zone setback rules for buildings would apply.

The definition of a building is any structure, temporary or permanent, movable or immovable, and includes water tanks of more than 1000 litres capacity.

The following setback rules applied within rural zoning included 15m high; 10m from the front road boundary of sealed roads; 25m from the front road boundary of unsealed roads; 5m from all other boundaries; 25m from any significant waterbody and 1.5m from any other waterbody.

The setback rules for residential zoning included 10m height; 3m height at the boundary with a 45-degree recession plane and 5m from the front boundary.

The legislation for infrastructure is outlined in the National Policy Statement for Renewable Electricity Generation 2011 | Ministry for the Environment.