Three wind farms among fast tracked referral projects

Wind farms in the Manawatu, near Auckland and in Southland have been fast tracked for referral to consenting panels.

The Government has also announced it has fast tracked nine solar panel projects (about 1.9 million panels) for approval since 2020.

The solar projects could generate about 1147MW of electricity compared with the hydroelectric Clyde Dam’s 432MW output, the Government says.

The three wind farms include Contact Energy’s Southland project, yet to be approved, which could generate up to 300MW from about 55 turbines, adding to a total of 419MW at peak.

Environment minister David Parker says 15 of the 108 projects referred to the process are for green energy infrastructure.