It’s getting hectic down here in the Waipara bunker: articles to write, truffles to harvest – stuff is piling up, not least in a multitude of tabs in my web browser, items set aside as possible subjects for posts here. So here’s one of my infrequent omnibus posts to give me some room to move around the web…
Tag: Waipara
Sight of the wind
Time for me to front up on wind power. As I mentioned last year, our local lines company, Mainpower, is planning a windfarm on the ridge of Mt Cass above the eastern edge of the Waipara Valley. That’s a good chunk of the skyline visible from my veranda. Some of it will be hidden behind Mt Brown, but I’ll still have windmills to tilt at (though no donkey). The resource consent application has now been lodged with the Hurunui District Council [here]. Getting that together has been a major undertaking for one of HT’s regular commenters, Andrew Hurley, as he blogs at the Mainpower development blog (needs more posts Andrew!). There’s a lot of interesting stuff both in the application and in Mainpower’s resource pages.
Here’s the rub. I think global warming’s a huge problem, and subscribe to the view that we need to do more to encourage electricity generation from renewable resources. So can I overcome my latent nimbyism (what, big white things whirring on the skyline?) and welcome the windfarm? To that, the answer is yes. But then the issue becomes complex. Mainpower are asking for consent to build within a “design envelope” which stretches from a lot of little turbines, to a smaller number of really big ones. Which is the least visually intrusive? Depends where you’re looking from.
I’m pondering the options. The little turbines would be more or less invisible from my house – certainly not intrusive – but they would generate the least power and cover the largest area. I’m tempted to prefer the really big turbines, for a variety of reasons. Smaller ecological footprint and significantly greater power generation, but big 125m towers. That would mean making the most of the power available from a good site, and perhaps limit the need for a rash of sites in areas of greater visual beauty.
Submissions close on August 1st. I’m open to debate…
Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain
I usually save my thoughts on weather for On The Farm (the other blog), but this summer in the Waipara Valley – especially the last 24 hours – has set me thinking. As the climate warms, Canterbury is projected to see an increased frequency of drought conditions. At the same time, the rain that does fall will become more intense, which could lead to run-off and erosion problems. Summer 2007/8 has been dry and hot (2007 was the driest at Limestone Hills since 1998, only 496 mm in the farm rain gauge). The hills are brown, the sheep are thin, but grape growers are happy. Yesterday afternoon, the skies darkened, thunder started rumbling, and the rain came. At 8 am today we’d had 92 mm in 24 hours (most it fell overnight, and it’s still raining at the time of writing). Other places have had a lot more, and there have been flash floods. It’s nothing by West Coast standards of course, but it’s good and heavy in North Canterbury terms.
So if you were to ask me what will Canterbury’s climate be like in 2030, I’d have to answer – just like this summer…
[Caveat: Yes, I know that we’ve got a La Nina and that one year does not a climate make.]
How green is my skyline?
Readers with functioning short term memories may recall that my local lines company, Mainpower, through its Local Generation subsidiary is planning to build a wind farm on Mt Cass, looking down over the Waipara Valley. The site (or a large chunk of it) can be seen from the comfy chairs on my veranda, testing my commitment to low carbon energy and landscape aesthetics. To help me (and others) come to terms with what this means, Mainpower’s main wind energy people, Andrew Hurley and Todd Mead, have launched a blog covering the planning and development process. It promises to give an interesting insight into the way wind farms are developed, and already demonstrates a refreshing openness about the process. Andrew’s commented here on wind issues, and has been up to Limestone Hills to talk climate blogs and wind, so I wish them luck with their new venture. Not sure about the turbines on the skyline though… 😉
Getting windy in the front row
All Black hooker Anton Oliver’s been putting the boot into Meridian Energy’s plans to build a 176-turbine windfarm on the Lammermore Range near Dunedin, called Project Hayes. Oliver, and notables such as poet Brian Turner, don’t like the potential damage to the landscape, but Oliver’s been doing some research:
“When you look at the practicalities and economics of wind farms overseas, Meridian’s and the Government’s claims that this wind farm will ensure security of supply and help Mr and Mrs Consumer are quite outrageous,�’ Oliver said. “Meridian’s campaign seems to have been one of half truths, misinformation and fudging information. The more I have looked into it, the more this has seemed to me tantamount to a Government-sanctioned corporate rort.�”
Right. Thanks for that compelling analysis, Anton. Meridian CEO Keith Turner wasn’t much impressed either:
Turner, a veteran of the electricity industry, said: “Anton’s entitled to his view. He’s a great All Black, but is he a great energy analyst?�” Lots of Oliver’s ideas were flawed, he said. “I wouldn’t want to develop a power system around Anton’s ideas …�”
Meanwhile, a lot closer to Hot Topic‘s home, plans by Mainpower for a windfarm on Mt Cass, overlooking the Waipara Valley, will prove an interesting test case for the author because the site is slap in the middle of the view from his veranda. I shall therefore be following developments closely. Will I turn into an All Black hooker or noted poet? Or an apologist for the power men? How will my neighbours respond? We live in interesting times…