The first stage of the Kaiwera Downs wind farm is nearing completion and should be operational by the end of the month.
But more is to come — if approved.
Mercury Energy has amended its resource consent to build fewer but taller wind turbines in stage two of its Kaiwera Downs Wind Farm project.
The change to the resource consent, approved by the Gore District Council in July, allows for 66 turbines at a height of 165m, noting the remaining 53 turbines to be built would be 165m tall.
In the original 2009 resource consent permission was given for the building of a maximum of 83 wind turbines, with a maximum tip height of 145m.
Mercury Energy has almost completed stage one of the project which is the building of 10 turbines at the height of 145m.
A Mercury Energy spokesperson said the height of the turbines had been increased because of the more complex site topography in stage two.
"By increasing the distance between ground and the bottom of the blades we reduce the stresses on the blades which lengthens their lifespan."
Visual effects of the increased height were negligible.
Turbine technology had advanced since the consent was issued, which meant fewer, higher capacity turbines could be installed.
"This reduces construction cost and footprint."
The company was developing stage two of the project and would make a financial investment decision by the middle of next year.
Eight out of 10 of the stage one turbines were operational.
"We expect the last two turbines to be operational in the next few weeks."
As planned, all turbines will be operational by the end of this month.
An official opening will take place next month.
The capacity of the stage one turbines is 43MW, enough to power more than 20,000 homes.
