Genesis eyes wind farm in northern Wairarapa | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

A major Genesis Energy wind farm could be built in northern Wairarapa if the numbers stack up.

Genesis public affairs manager Richard Gordon said yesterday resource consents have been granted for the first of several mobile wind masts to be erected east of Eketahuna, involving up to 27 farming properties.

Further resource consents are now being lodged that will allow up to six masts, which will gather wind data over the next 10 months for what could become "a substantial wind farm" in the region, he said.

"There has been no wind monitoring on site yet but some data has already been collected and from that modelling, the facility will be potentially medium to large-sized," he said.

"Nothing is a certainty and this is very early days but from what we know so far that area delivers excellent generation potential."

Mr Gordon said a working name for the project is yet to be decided and the size of the facility would depend on data collected over the rest of the year with the best sites pinpointed for wind-power generation.

"This involves an area spread over thousands of square kilometres and any turbines would not be grouped together. They'll be built in small clusters and at the tops of ridges as this is very much broken country."

He said any power generated from a northern Wairarapa site would be channelled in to the national grid and will not cheapen power prices in the region.

Mr Gordon said any eventual wind farm in northern Wairarapa would be "a big brother" to the Hau Nui Wind Farm near Martinborough, which was the first commercial wind farm in New Zealand.

The capacity factor for Hau Nui had averaged 43 per cent in the three years previous to 2004, making it one of the most efficient wind farms in the world at the time, when eight new 67m-high Enercon E40 turbines were installed at the site that brought the number of turbines to 15 and generated in total about 8.65mW.

Genesis Energy is a state-owned enterprise formed in 1999 after the split-up of ECNZ with generation assets, in addition to Hau Nui Wind Farm, including Huntly Power Station, the Tongariro Power Development, the Waikaremoana Hydro Scheme, and two co-generation facilities.

Genesis Energy is one of the country's largest electricity retailers and the most prominent power supplier in Wairarapa, with 14,000 residential and 3000 commercial customers in the region

The company is also investigating the potential for new geothermal generation in the central North Island.