LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]



Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

The Turitea and Puketoi wind farms — a case study 

Credit:  New Zealand wind farms – a public policy failure — nzwindfarms.wordpress.com ~~

New Zealand prides itself on its clean green image and it truly is a beautiful country with friendly people, but there is a dark side. Global warming hysterics have successfully infiltrated government and their presence is leading to dramatic effects on unsuspecting citizens. Rent seekers and carpet baggers have been quick to spot the opportunities on offer. A recent NZ Wind Energy conference predicts approximately .4% of the country will be covered in wind farms. The bulk of these wind farms will be located in the lower third of the North Island. No public discussion about this has ever taken place. Our city, Palmerston North, was the first victim. [link] Mighty River Power, a state owned electricity generator, which in a few months time will be offered for sale to the public to shore up government finances, has taken a key role in this, but there are serious problems.

The 60 (125metre high) turbine Turitea wind farm, after an exhausting process, has been approved in an urban area right on two major fault lines, this despite the series of devastating earthquakes in Christchurch, NZ’s second city, which have resulted in huge damage and an exodus to Australia. The now retired judge, Shonagh Kenderdine, who chaired and authored the Final Decision approving the wind farm, ignored evidence of the danger posed by these fault lines, the Wellington and Northern Ohariu faults, [link] ,refused to examine the once secret contract between Palmerston North city and Mighty River Power, which imposes a $3 million penalty on the city if any help is given to affected residents, [link] , refused to reveal the contents of a Memorandum of Understanding between a local Maori group, which is rumoured to include a multimillion dollar pay off, gave a geographical location for the wind farm in the Final Decision which places it inside the neighbouring town of Pahiatua, reinstated turbines right over property which had previously been deleted, ignored evidence that the noise standard applied was fraudulently developed, [link], refused to deal with perjury and internet espionage by the applicant, [link] and ignored the legal requirement to protect the endangered NZ native falcon. One local family in particular has very serious complaints about Kenderdine’s conduct. [link]

Now that is a damning list of failures from an Environment Court judge, but there’s more from this woman who in her bio listed her interest in global warming. Kenderdine has landed the cushy, if not snobby, job of chairing the NZ Historic Places Trust. [link] Under her tutelage the Trust has recently successfully demanded that 200 buildings just downwind from the Turitea Wind Farm be strengthened because of the severe earthquake risk. Movement on the Wellington fault is in the region of 4 to 5 metres horizontally and 1 metre vertically. Shutter ridges under the Tararua Ranges are said to be more pronounced than those on the San Andreas Fault.

Is there more? Well yes there is, Kenderdine has discarded all pretence that she was not in the pocket of the wind industry and on the 3rd of April addressed the NZ Wind Energy Conference as a key note speaker on how to put wind turbines as close as possible to human habitation. [link] She also chaired a panel discussion on this issue. NZ law prohibits going after a retired judge for a faulty or corrupt decision. So that lets her off the hook, doesn’t it?

The stupidity doesn’t stop there, though. Mighty River Power has at this very moment a neighbouring wind farm, Puketoi, with 53 turbines 160 metres high, before a three man commission. This wind farm is also in an earthquake zone and like Turitea the severe earthquake risk has been deliberately downplayed. [link] The Company has also removed all details of the Puketoi application from its website. [link to screencap]

So won’t the uninsurable wind farms, proposed and consented in the Wairarapa and which are planned to feed their power through the Turitea wind farm into the grid in Manawatu, be a boon to the country’s electricity supply? Well, not quite. The grid in the Manawatu can only cope with 450MW from the currently operating Te Apiti and Tararua wind farms. The line through Turitea will bring a further 1300MW. This means much of this intermittent electricity cannot be dispatched and if it were it would cause substation failures and blackouts. The green euphoria by the oligarchy running NZ will blow up in our faces. Transpower, which manages the grid, has no credible answer to this problem. [link]

Failure to bring these matters to the investing public’s notice with the selloff of this state owned asset is, in our opinion, fraudulent.

Finally, you may ask why none of this has been reported in the media. The answer is simple. NZ has huge liabilities under Kyoto, if it ever revives. [link] The local paper, the Manawatu Standard, is like most papers in NZ, owned by Fairfax, which has a vested interest in climate alarmism and a one third ownership of Earth Hour. [link] The Standard knows about the earthquake risk, the corrupt contract disenfranchising their own readers and devaluing hundreds of properties and the problems relating to dispatching wind generated electricity, but has chosen to remain silent. On the earthquake risk to Palmerston North, however, it has had plenty to say. [link]

All this is happening at the same time as electricity use in NZ is static and even dropping due to more efficient appliances and prevailing economic conditions. [link]

Let’s hope commonsense prevails. [link to a range of documents]

Source:  New Zealand wind farms – a public policy failure — nzwindfarms.wordpress.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon