Solar and wind farms among 50 fast-tracked projects

NZ Windfarm’s Te Rere Hau repowering project near Palmerston North has been approved as the 50^th referred fast-track project, says environment minister David Parker.

The project will involve removing 97 existing two-blade, 47-metre-high turbines, installing 30 new three-blade, 162-metre-high turbines and constructing associated infrastructure.

The Tauhei Solar Farm (Te Aroha) is also among 17 of the 50 projects approved under the fast-track legislation which have now obtained consent from an expert panel, expected to save an average 15 months per project, Parker adds.

The fast-track process allows for a shorter consenting process that can boost employment and economic recovery but does not replace or circumvent the environmental tests under the Resource Management Act 1991 and is designed to ensure Treaty of Waitangi and Treaty settlement obligations are maintained, Parker explains.

He believes the projects could create more than 18,000 jobs.

The COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Act 2020 is a key Government lever to grow the economy, boost jobs, speed up infrastructure development and improve environmental outcomes in response to the economic impacts of COVID-19.

 Parker says the other two projects approved among the three latest are the Waimarie Street project residential development of 58 lots in St Heliers, Auckland, and the Flint’s Park West, Ladies Mile-Te Pūtahi project in the Lake Hayes area, Queenstown (up to 315 units, plus a school and chapel).

Work is being done on whether some form of the fast-track process is carried forward into the new resource management system, but Parker says no decision has been taken.

The Resource Management Act 1991 will be repealed and replaced with a suite of new legislation: the Natural and Built Environments Act (NBA), the Strategic Planning Act (SPA) and the Climate Adaptation Act (CAA), the Government aiming to pass the NBA and SPA within this parliamentary term.