Contact Energy project manager Steve Harding outlined the project at a Southland District Council meeting yesterday with details of the large wind farm to be established not far from the original Slopedown site, about 20km east of Wyndham.
The Otago-Southland wind farm was one of several projects the company was investigating.
About 15 years ago the company had planned to develop a smaller wind farm at Slopedown but cancelled the project after a downturn in energy demand.
Southland’s increased electricity demand and climate change protocols now made the wind farm viable.
The site would have up to 55 turbines with a tip height of 220m, each with three 80m blades.
"Getting a 80m load around the roads is quite challenging."
The larger turbines would be spaced further apart, between 450-800m, and rotate at a slower speed than smaller models.
"Essentially you need less of them to generate the same amount of power as you would for smaller ones."
Mr Harding said Contact expected the project to cost about a billion dollars, up from the forecast $700 million-$900 million which had previously been estimated, which would take up to 250 people up to two and a-half years to install, with a further 12 months allowed for site rehabilitation.
Once completed, between 10-14 fulltime jobs would be created and $10m-$12m would be required for annual operations.
Wind turbine technology advancements had demanded larger turbines be installed as smaller models were no longer being manufactured, he said.
"The bigger the turbine, the bigger the rotor the more energy you get from the wind, the more economic the wind farm can be." he said.
All cables would be underground to transmit the generated power to the national grid. It could generate up to 300MW, which is enough electricity to power to up to 150,000 homes.
The tower’s concrete foundations would be batched on site and aggregate supplies would be sourced locally to build 60km of roading.
Cr Paul Duffy asked if the towers would have flashing red lights installed on the top that had been known to annoy people.
Mr Harding said the Civil Aviation Authority rules required turbines to have warning lights
But Contact Energy had challenged the CAA base case ruling because the rules mainly applied to tall structures near airports.
By Toni McDonald
