Meridian Energy's proposed $2 billion Project Hayes wind farm in Central Otago could generate more than $67 million for New Zealand under the Kyoto Protocol.
The protocol is an international treaty dealing with greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.
Meridian counsel Hugh Rennie QC highlighted the wind farm's development's potential benefits during his opening submission when the Project Hayes Environment Court appeal hearing resumed in Queenstown yesterday.
The project would help the country meet its international obligations under the protocol, which could amount to $67.6 million, depending on the assumed cost of carbon and fuel sources at the time, he said.
He said avoided Kyoto obligations of between $14 and $29.9 million (equating to 747,249 tonnes of carbon dioxide), would result from Project Hayes if gas generation was displaced, and the figure would range from $33.8 to $67.6 million (1.69 million tonnes of carbon dioxide) if coal was displaced.
As well as carbon off-setting, Project Hayes would add to New Zealand's energy supply and would have a multiplyer effect on local economies.
The project would produce about $157.3 million worth of electricity each year, would mean 180 construction jobs on top of 200 jobs created directly by the project in the first five years, and about $500 million would be generated in local economies from indirect employment and ongoing operations.
Meridian's first witness, former chief executive officer of the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, Dr Brent Layton, was asked whether a change in government had affected the country's potential desire for renewable energy such as wind farms.
He said although a resulting change in policy did not include a ban on hydro carbon or fossil fuel-based generation, benefits of Project Hayes had not been altered.
"Benefits that could be derived [from Project Hayes] don't stem from government policy, they stem from the Kyoto commitment, and there's no indication that will change", he said.
