Contact Energy Wants To Build A Massive 55-Turbine Wind Farm In Southland Before The End Of The Year

Contact Energy wants to build a massive 55-turbine wind farm in Southland before the end of the year. The company is to lodge a resource consent application for the Slopedown site near Wyndham which would cover 5800 hectares and contain 55 turbines, each 220 metres high with 80m-long blades. Steve Harding, of Roaring 40s Wind Power is managing the $900 million project and says “quite a lot of work” has gone into lessening the visual, noise, ecological, traffic, aquatic, hydrological, economic and cultural effects on the environment. The turbines would be located between 450m and 800m apart. However there is opposition to the plan from the West Catlins Preservation Society. Spokesperson Dean Rabbidge says Slopedown is an outstanding natural landscape that could be seen from Southland and south and west Otago. He says Aucklands Sky Tower is 328m but the tallest floor the Skydeck is at 220m. These things are the same height as that – do we really want 50 of those in a natural landscape that can be seen from all over Southland.