Te Rere Hau Wind Farm
NZ Windfarms first project is a 48.5 MW wind farm situated on the Tararua Ranges near Palmerston North. The project received resource consent in May 2005 for up to 97 turbines which will be built in Stages on this world class site.
The Construction Process
Stage 1 construction started in January 2006. Stage 1 of the Te Rere Hau wind farm consisted of five NZ made Windflow 500 turbines (2.5 MW capacity) which operated via a temporary connect into the local PowerCo network.
Stage 1 was officially opened by Prime Minister Helen Clark on 15 September 2006.
Photos of Stage 1 construction are available in the Gallery section of the website.
Stage 2 consisted of the installation of an additional 28 turbines plus the installation of the permanent electrical connection into the national grid via the Tararua wind farm injection point.
Stage 3 currently under way, will see a further 32 turbines added before the end of 2009.
Wind Turbine Technology
At Te Rere Hau we are using the two bladed, New Zealand designed and manufactured Windflow 500 Turbines.
These 500 kW turbines are 30 metres high and have a rotor diameter of 33 metres. Each turbine produces enough electricity to power approximately 200 households a year.
Photos of the first five turbines being manufactured for the Te Rere Hau wind farm are available in our Photo Gallery.
