With a click of a mouse Prime Minister Helen Clark switched on the first Kiwi-made wind farm yesterday.The Te Rere Hau wind farm, on the Tararuas, was officially opened and its first five turbines spun into action. Miss Clark, Palmerston North MP Steve Maharey and NZ Windfarms chairman Derek Walker spoke at the Novotel hotel before they, and four bus loads of NZ Windfarms shareholders, headed up the Pahiatua Track.
NZ Windfarms chairman Derek Walker said the journey to the wind farm had begun with a vision by Windflow Technology Ltd chief executive Geoff Henderson who had worked on wind farms overseas.
"(Mr Henderson) came back to New Zealand to build a New Zealand made wind turbine especially suited to New Zealand conditions." The turbine would be lighter, stronger and more cost effective than the mainstream technology which was designed for the lighter wind environments of Europe and America, Mr Walker said.
Mr Walker said Windflow Technology established NZ Windfarms Ltd as a separate entity to develop Te Rere Hau and other wind farms. Five Windflow 500 turbines have been finished in the first stage of what will be a 97 turbine wind farm.
Miss Clark said the wind farm is the latest in Manawatu to make the most of that abundant natural and renewable resource the wind.
Miss Clark congratulated Palmerston North's "Mayor Heather" and the city council for its creative approach to generating energy the mini hydro power station at the water treatment plant and the co-generation plant at the Awapuni Landfill.
When introducing Miss Clark Palmerston North MP Steve Maharey said people in the city like to think of themselves as progressive and sophisticated as well as laid back.
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