Skip to main content.

Mighty River Power’s proposal for a wind farm at Turitea

Turitea Wind Farm Proposal logo

Mighty River Power Ltd has lodged resource consent applications to construct, maintain and operate a wind farm in the Turitea Reserve and adjoining farmland near Palmerston North. The Minister for the Environment, Hon Nick Smith, has called in the applications and referred them to an independent Board of Inquiry.

The proposed Turitea wind farm comprises up to 121 wind turbines.  It would traverse public and private land located within the Manawatu-Wanganui Region, Palmerston North City and Tararua District.

The role of the Board of Inquiry is to consider submissions on the proposed wind farm, hold public hearings and make a final decision. The Board will be chaired by Judge Shonagh Kenderdine and the Board members are Richard Heerdegen, John Hudson, Chris Shenton and David Bunting.

Location of the proposed wind farm

The proposed Turitea wind farm would be located along an approximately 14 kilometre stretch of the Tararua Ranges, approximately 10 kilometres southeast of the Palmerston North city centre and approximately 11 kilometres west of Pahiatua.

The proposed wind farm site is located both within the Turitea Reserve and on adjacent private properties.  The site is generally located in an area bounded by Kahuterawa Road, Greens Road, Turitea Road, Pahiatua Aokautere Road, South Range Road, Makomako Road and Hardings Park.  Access to the site is available via South Range Road and Greens Road (via a private farm driveway).

See the map (PDF, 478 KB) indicating the exact location of the proposed wind farm, including the turbine zones, transmission lines, substations, roading, laydown areas, spoil disposal areas, concrete batching plant locations and in-stream works.

Hearing

The Board of Inquiry hearing commenced on Monday 6 July 2009 at 10am and has proceeded over a period of seven weeks until Wednesday 14 October 2009. The Turitea Wind Farm hearing is now adjourned until March 2010 for Mighty River Power Limited to reconsider the turbine layout.

Section 42A Report

The six further Section 42A reports are now available.

The Section 42A report on the Turitea Windfarm Proposal is available.

Expert witness reports

Following meetings between groups of expert witnesses, nine reports were produced.

Electronic copies of these reports are available for download.

Evidence

Notification of the wish to cross examine the new witness, Dr. Salinger, will need to be forwarded to the Board by the 2 October 2009.

Submitters who wish to question (PDF, 58 KB) expert witnesses are to inform the Board. Questions are to be put in writing and forwarded to the project co-ordinator a day before the witness is to appear.

Mighty River Power’s Rebuttal and Supplementary Evidence

Submitters evidence and supplementary evidence

Directions from Judge Kenderdine on the rebuttal evidence of Mighty River Power is available.

Mighty River Power’s evidence has been circulated to all parties.

Submitters are to provide evidence to the Board.

Submissions

Submissions closed on 23 February 2009.  The Board has received 702 submissions on Mighty River Power’s proposed Turitea Wind Farm. 

A Summary of Submissions report (PDF, 1.1 MB) has been prepared.

Electronic copies of all submissions are available to download.

The submissions were originally received by the Minister for the Environment and then provided to the Board in accordance with the Resource Management Act.

Hearing procedures

The Board’s hearing procedures (PDF, 674 KB) are available.  These procedures describe how the Board intends to conduct the hearing and includes the key dates for evidence exchange.  These key dates are summarised below – please refer to the procedures for full details.

  • Submissions closed on 23 February 2009. A Summary of Submissions Report has been prepared.
  • Applicant provides evidence to the Board
Applicant to provide evidence to the Board 1 May 2009
Submitters to provide evidence to the Board 22 May 2009
Applicant’s rebuttal evidence 5 June 2009
Reports prepared by expert witnesses 19 June 2009
Notice of wish to cross examine witnesses 26 June 2009
Hearing begins 6 July 2009

Memorandum of Counsel lodged with the Board of Inquiry

Memorandum of Counsel lodged with the Board of Inquiry are available.

Directions and Responses from the Board of Inquiry

The Board of Inquiry has issued Directions and Responses to Memorandums of Counsel.

Further information

Contact details

For further information please contact Caroline van Halderen,
Project Co-ordinator for the Board. Phone: 0800 836 666
Mobile:  027 2118249
Email: turiteacallin@mfe.govt.nz

FreePost Call-In
Ministry for the Environment
PO Box 10362
Wellington 6143

Attention: Project Co-ordinator, Turitea Wind Farm Call-In

Last updated: 22 October 2009