Meridian’s Project West Wind proving its worth

Media Release: Thursday 15 October 2009

Meridian’s Project West Wind already proving its worth

Meridian’s West Wind wind farm project nearing completion on Wellington’s south-west coast is proving its worth..

Meridian chief executive Tim Lusk says all 62 turbines are now delivering renewable energy into the national grid, and the wind farm is already enhancing Wellington’s security of electricity supply

Most recently during the failure of equipment at Haywards substation the windfarm injected 60 MW into the Wellington region to help out in a difficult situation.

Mr Lusk says Project West Wind has produced more than 120 gigawatt hours of energy since the first turbine was commissioned in March this year. The facility has operated for extended periods at up to 60 percent capacity factor, a measure of the amount of time it generates at equivalent to full capacity. The world average for wind farms is 23 percent.

“The project is ahead of schedule and we expect it will be handed over to our operational people in a few weeks’ time, well ahead of the projected hand-over at the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Meridian is working closely with the turbine suppliers, Siemens, to identify and seek remedies to the causes of noise issues being reported by nearby residents as the turbines have been built and commissioned. ‘This is a natural and very manageable phase of any windfarm development as the actual plant comes into operation.’

“We are confident that the project complies with our resource consent conditions in regards to noise, but we want to assure residents of Makara that we will consider all realistic options to minimize sound-related issues on individual sites.”

On completion Project West Wind will have a generating capacity of 142 megawatts (MW) which gives it the potential to provide energy to power the equivalent of 70,000 homes.

ENDS

© Scoop Media