No decision has been made yet about the future of the land bought for Project Hayes, three months after Meridian Energy pulled the plug on the wind farm.
In January, Meridian backed away from its six-year battle to construct the $2 billion, 633MW, 176-turbine wind farm on the Lammermoor Range. It withdrew its resource consent applications, which were before the Environment Court, and said the project was shelved for commercial reasons.
The site for the farm covered 92sq km, part of five high-country stations. Meridian bought one of the stations, Logan Burn, at Paerau, in 2007, and entered into leases for other land it needed. It also bought a smaller residential property in West Taieri.
Meridian communications manager Claire Shaw said this week the company was still "assessing what our options are" and no decision had been made on the future of the properties.
Contact Energy announced this week it was cancelling plans to pursue further hydro development on the Clutha River. Proposals for dams at Queensberry, Luggate, Tuapeka and Beaumont were not viable in the "forseeable future," the company said.
