| Te Uku Wind Farm | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The wind farm in June 2012 | |
 | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Location | Te Uku, nearRaglan |
| Coordinates | 37°52′42″S174°57′47″E / 37.87833°S 174.96306°E /-37.87833; 174.96306 |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | October 2010 |
| Commission date | 19 November 2011 (2011-11-19) |
| Construction cost | $230m |
| Owners | Meridian Energy andNew Zealand |
| Wind farm | |
| Type | Onshore |
| Hub height | 80 m (262 ft) |
| Rotor diameter | 101 m (331 ft) |
| Rated wind speed | 14–90 km/h (9–56 mph) |
| Site area | 200 hectares (2.0 km2) |
| Site elevation | 500m |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 28 |
| Make and model | Siemens: SWT-2.3-101[1] |
| Nameplate capacity | 64 MW |
| External links | |
| Website | www |
| Commons | Related media on Commons |
Te Uku Wind Farm is awind farm located atTe Uku nearRaglan. It has a capacity of 64 MW[2][3] using 28 wind turbines. Construction was completed in March 2011,[4] at a cost of $200 million.[5] The farm covers an area of approximately 200 hectares (2.0 km2).[6] The wind farm is jointly owned byWEL Networks andMeridian Energy.[7]
Resource consent was granted in May 2008[8] and appeals were resolved by November 2008. Construction of the wind farm began in 2010.[9] Hick Bros Civil and Spartan Construction won an award for outstanding technical and environmental planning.[10] The wind farm was officially opened by Prime MinisterJohn Key in February 2011.[11] Te Uku was fully operational on 10 March 2011.[12]
Te Uku Windfarm is controlled fromWellington where Meridian has its control centre for running all of their New Zealand Hydro and Wind generation assets.
The windfarm is linked to the national grid atTe Kowhai substation by about 17 km (11 mi) of 33 kV lines on 159[13] steel poles built on concrete pile foundations[14] and an underground cable from just west of Waitetuna Valley Rd to Cogswell Rd,[15] a total of about 25 km (16 mi).[16][17][18]
Each 130.5 m. high, 318 tonne,turbine took 2 or 3 days to build using 4 cranes, the largest a 600 tonneKR Wind/NZ Crane Group Alliance crane. Towers were formed in 3 sections (made inKorea), and topped bySiemens components (as atMakara) - a 3.5 m circumference, 81 tonnenacelle, hub and 3 turbine blades. Barge transport was considered, but rejected in favour of road transporters running from September 2010 to January 2011.[19]
One of themitigation measures was this walking and cycling track. The track climbs from a car park on Kawhia Rd, nearBridal Veil, runs about 6 km and climbs 280m to the windfarm on Wharauroa Plateau. Over 2 km of less interesting walking can be saved if the walk is started from the gate at the end of the driveable part of Plateau Rd. From this pointLake Disappear can be seen to the south after wet weather. The track peters out into the partly formedpaper road (see the dashed line on the1:50,000 map just north of the Pakihi Stream). It follows an ancient Maori track which was often used by warriors on raids between Waikato and Kawhia.[20]
The road access to the windfarm largely followed the paper road, which was started around 1900 (a local historian, Bob Vernon, wrote that a store ledger started atTe Mata in 1896 includes at least 11 workers on the road[21]) and seemingly abandoned a few years later, though Bob Vernon also wrote, "about 1919 the Public Works Department cut a six-foot track through solid bush, from the south-eastern end of the plateau [where it joins this paper road] to the head of the Makomako valley".[22]
In 2013 there was controversy between a local farmer andWaikato District Council about whether Pipiwharauroa Way could be closed for thelambing season.[23]
From the 1970s amicrowave tower has been on the crest of the hill overlooking Te Uku.[24] It is now also part of asmart metering network.[25] There is also a VHF repeater near the tower.[26]
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