Blog

Welcome to MainPower’s local generation blog. I hope this blog will provide a forum for people to discuss our local generation and energy efficiency activities and to ask any associated questions. Blogging’s new to me and the team and we’re not sure what response we’ll get, but we view this as another “venue” for discussing our generation plans with our community and other stakeholders. My colleagues and I will regularly update the blog with progress on our generation activities including plans to build a wind farm at Mt Cass.

We’ll also post comments on relevant associated issues like developments in renewable energy and wind farms, both in New Zealand and internationally. I hope you will do the same.

We look forward to blogging with you!

Todd Mead
Generation Development Manager

MainPower's solar PV array, on its Rangiora office

Submissions

Posted by Andrew, 2 comments, on the 18th July 2008

Submissions are open on our wind farm and in fact are due to close on 1 August. We are encouraging people to provide supporting submissions – so what's that about?

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Ecology

Posted by Andrew, on the 1st July 2008

Ecology is looking to be one of the key issues for this wind farm. Our view is that the site clearly has important ecological values but the wind farm will have a very small impact and there is in fact potential for improvement through measures like re-planting, destocking and pest control.

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Notification Coming Soon

Posted by Andrew, 2 comments, on the 19th June 2008

Okay – so my last post on this blog was 18 September 2007. The web-savvy amongst us would say that this spells doom for a blog. But, now is really the time that it may come into its own. So first I will explain that comment and then I’ll tell a bit about what has happened since September last.

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Library afternoons

Posted by Andrew Hurley, 3 comments, on the 18th September 2007

Emma and I have had a couple of pleasant afternoons in the Amberley Library, taking along our full suite of photomontages and being available to answer questions on the windfarm.

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Which turbine is the most efficient?

Posted by Andrew Hurley, 11 comments, on the 7th September 2007

We have heard questions about turbine efficiency a few times. Usually it is in the context of a discussion over choice of turbines (eg - which of your turbine options is the most efficient?) so I'll talk about that today.

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Why should we choose a turbine now?

Posted by Andrew Hurley, 8 comments, on the 13th August 2007

You have heard (see 1 August post) why we don't intend to pick a turbine before we head into a resource consent - but to complete the picture we should also talk about why we would want, or need to.

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Announcements!

Posted by Andrew Hurley, 1 comments, on the 7th August 2007

Two significant milestones happened last week and were appropriately announced in the media. It was sheer coincidence that these happened at the same time but it made for an extra good week.

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A busy week on site (last week)

Posted by Andrew Hurley, 4 comments, on the 1st August 2007

At this time of year getting up the farm tracks to the Mt Cass ridge can be difficult and dangerous but there are still a few things we are trying to do before the farm shuts down for lambing (August and September). So, having just had three weeks of wet weather, a few days of dry and warm North-West winds and the fast approach of the lambing season saw a lot of activity last week.

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Why we won't choose a turbine (yet)

Posted by Andrew Hurley, 2 comments, on the 1st August 2007

Any time we have talked about the Mount Cass Wind Farm this year we have discussed a range of turbine types and sizes as being possible for the site. This has lead to some people asking us why we can't make up our mind and just pick one.

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Keeping the lights on

Posted by Todd Mead, 1 comments, on the 23rd July 2007

Around the country, energy companies’ plans to “keep the lights on” have generated controversy and acclaim, depending on your perspective. So, what role does a relatively small lines company in North Canterbury have to play in all of this?

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