Allco Energy's Motorimu wind farm has been granted resource consent by the Environment Court. However, its only a partial success - consent was only granted for 80 of the proposed 127 turbines, with the rest being denied due to nearness to people's homes and cumulative visual impact with a project which hasn't even been consented, let alone built. The latter is highly dubious, and good grounds for appeal should the developer wish to challenge it (and they'd be doing us all a favour by doing so, by giving us a solid precedent to guide future projects). Unfortunately, their parent company has hit financial trouble, and looking to get out of the wind business, so the project (and the two others they're working on) may not now go ahead.
Meanwhile, it seems Meridian has applied for consent for another wind farm, this time a 120 MW farm near Waiouru. So, even if Motorimu fails, something else will pop up to take its place.
