An Environment Court appeal hearing for Meridian Energy's proposed $1.5 billion Project Hayes wind farm will resume in Queenstown on Monday.
Meridian proposed to construct and operate 176 turbines on the Lammermoor Range in Central Otago, making Project Hayes the largest wind farm development in the Southern Hemisphere.
Judge Jon Jackson, commissioners Alex Sutherland and Heather McConachy, and deputy commissioner Ken Fletcher will continue to hear arguments relating to the construction logistics and environmental effects of Project Hayes, as well as its perceived need.
The Environment Court hearing was adjourned at Cromwell in August, after Judge Jackson granted an application for further evidence to be heard.
Queenstown was chosen as a venue for the resumed hearing, which will take up two weeks in January, followed by two weeks in February, as noise became an issue at previous hearing locations in Alexandra and Cromwell.
The hearing is scheduled to take place Monday to Friday on weeks beginning January 19, January 26, February 9, and February 16, with a finishing date of February 20.
In its first week, the hearing will be held at the Queenstown District Court, after which the Rydges Lakeland Resort will be used.
The Environment Court hearing for appeals against Project Hayes began at Cromwell in May last year, after initial consent hearings at Alexandra lasted for five weeks between May and July 2007.
A decision granting consent for up to 176 turbines was announced in October 2007.
The Government tagged Project Hayes as a development of national significance and opposes nine of the appellant groups through its Ministry for the Environment.
Active appellant parties which remain include the Upland Landscape Protection Society, Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust, Maniototo Environmental Society, the Central Otago Recreational Users Forum, as well as farmers Eric and Cate Laurenson and Ian and Sarah Manson, and individuals John, Sue, and Andrew Douglas, and Gaelle dit-Piquard.
Contact Energy and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust withdrew appeals against Project Hayes last year.
