MT CASS WIND FARM - MainPower's Proposal

MainPower’s application for resource consent

We lodged an application for resource consent with the Hurunui District Council to build a wind farm on Mt Cass at the end of November 2007.

Our application seeks approval to build, operate and maintain the Mt Cass Wind Farm, including construction of the following:

Wind turbines
A site access road
An electricity substation
A road between the turbines, along the ridge of Mt Cass
Buried power cables running between the turbines and the substation
Overhead transmission lines from the wind farm substation to Mt Cass road and then back to Waipara
Meteorological equipment
Temporary construction facilities including concrete batching plant, lay-down area, construction office, storm water treatment and staff amenities.

The design envelope

The resource consent application is for a range of options for the type and number of turbines to be used for the wind farm. We called this a “design envelope” approach.

This approach means we could have accessed any technology changes closer to the time of construction, and would have placed us in a better position for any discussion with turbine suppliers in that we had greater confidence that our project will go ahead.

The following table outlines the range of options that were considered.