Mighty River Power has been granted resource consent for its proposed 12.5 MW windfarm at Long Gully near Wellington. Its a small project, but one of the advantages of wind is that it does not have to be big. And looking at the New Zealand Wind Energy Association's list of operating and under construction wind farms, it seems that there are several of these small clusters planned around the country.
Also looking at that list, it looks like we will pass 500 MW of generating capacity soon. meanwhile, there is over 2500 MW currently working through the consent process. Not all of this will be built, and the financial crisis has put some of the projects on hold, but its a good illustration of the potential we have available. We can have a renewable, sustainable future if we want; all we need is the right policy framework.
