Mighty River Power Selected to Investigate Turitea

Media Release

30 August 2005

Mighty River Power Selected to Investigate Turitea Wind Farm

New Zealand owned electricity generator and retailer, Mighty River Power welcomed the news it has been selected as the Palmerston North City Council’s preferred partner to investigate wind electricity generation potential at the Council-owned reserve at Turitea.

The Turitea site 10 kilometres south east of the city is regarded as a site with high potential for wind generation and Mighty River Power will now begin investigating development of the site.

“We are looking forward to working with Palmerston North City Council to ascertain the potential to develop this site,” says Mighty River Power’s Chief Executive Doug Heffernan.

“The Council went through a comprehensive selection process to identify a partner for this development and we are pleased to have been given this opportunity.

“We have a very strong wind generation development team within Mighty River Power and our technology partners are recognised world leaders in this field. We also have a proven track record of working with partners on generation developments. We successfully partner with iwi and Councils in various geothermal and methane landfill power stations.

Dr Heffernan said the first step at Turitea would be to install a monitoring mast at the site to collect data that would determine the potential for a project on the Council’s reserve land.

“Early indications are the site may be suitable for a project of around 120MW to 150MW but we won’t know that until we have carried out detailed testing and monitoring.

“If the monitoring is favourable we would then progress to consultation on the proposed project. That consultation would include preparing detailed environmental assessments, making those available to the public and ensuring the public as well as other key stakeholders in the area have the opportunity to make their issues known.

“Following consultation we would then go to the consents phase. Assuming consents were granted, any construction would then take about 12-15 months to complete.”

Dr Heffernan said Mighty River Power’s commitment to wind generation was part of its strategy of looking at a wide range of fuel sources for generation to meet New Zealand’s long term energy demand requirements.

“We are also developing geothermal opportunities, exploring for gas, identifying potential small hydro sites and seeking consents for thermal generation at our existing Marsden Point site.”

ENDS

About Mighty River Power: Mighty River Power is a New Zealand-owned generator and retailer of energy providing up to 13% of New Zealand’s total electricity requirements. Mercury Energy, our retail business, has in excess of 300,000 business and domestic customers. Our major generation assets are based on Lake Taupo and nine dams on the Waikato River, supplemented by growing capabilities in geothermal generation, combined cycle generation and landfill methane generation. Wind, geothermal, thermal, gas and small hydro generation options are currently being explored by Mighty River Power.

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