“Time for us to start digging coal:” NZ minister irate as big wind farm rejected on threat to wetlands, bats

A decision to knock back a 300 megawatt (MW) wind farm in the hinterlands of southern New Zealand on environmental grounds has created a big risk for the country’s energy security, says associate energy minister Shane Jones. 

An independent panel rejected the $NZ1 billion wind farm yesterday, proposed for hill country north of Invercargill, saying the risk to highland wetlands where most of the 55 turbines would stand was too great.

A frustrated Jones, who is from right-leaning party New Zealand First, snarked that if the country couldn’t get wind farms permitted then “perhaps it’s time for us to start digging up coal”, a position that he has long advocated for as mining minister. 

After years of slow investment in new generation, New Zealand is struggling to meet the spike in demand caused by rising electrification of industry and homes, and electric vehicles. 

In August last year, wholesale prices spiked as high as $NZ1,000 per megawatt hour and since then energy-intensive businesses have been closing their doors permanently due to persistently high retail prices.

In that context, the rejection of 300MW of new generation is a blow for the country’s energy stability. 

In comments reported by the Otago Daily Times, Jones said while there is always a trade-off between environment and energy needs, this outcome was “disappointing”.

“And at some point, the nation needs to come to grips with what is more important — a multi-coloured skink, or affordable and secure power every winter,” the local newspaper reported him as saying. 

Irreplaceable wetlands and threatened bats

The Contact Energy proposal was not an easy one to approve: the 25 day fast-tracked process stretched out to 150 days because of the project’s complexity, the panel said.

Three of the 7MW turbines were earmarked for a corner of sheep and cattle station Glencoe and 18 in a pine forest owned by timber company Matariki.

But the majority, 34, would have been in an area called the Jedburgh Plateau. 

“The Jedburgh Plateau… contains large areas of indigenous vegetation that is ecologically significant, interspersed with upland bog and fen wetlands, together forming a complex terrestrial and wetland ecosystem that is significant habitat for indigenous species,” the panel said in its decision.

Contact Energy tried to lessen the impact the turbines would have on the plateau by removing a transmission line and designing a compensation and offsets offer for the Maori tribe Ngai Tahu.

But the panel said the “irreplaceable” fens and bog wetlands in the Jedburgh area were so unique that a like-for-like offset was impossible, and the risks to lizards and invertebrates were too high. 

The turbines themselves will also be large by New Zealand standards with a tip height of 220m, and that was also a factor in the rejection due to the unknown impact on threatened long-tailed bats in the area. 

“Overseas research indicates bat species with similar characteristics to long-tailed bats are common victims of blade strike,” the panel said.

Also disappointed at the outcome was Contact Energy CEO Mike Fuge, who said the project has the support of the Department of Conservation, Ngai Tahu, Environment Southland and the Southland District Council, which would have benefited from as many as 240 jobs created in the area. 

“The decision by the Panel to decline Contact’s proposed wind farm is extremely concerning,” he said in a statement.

“Investing and building renewable energy generation, like the Southland Wind Farm, is in the national interest and is critical to reducing reliance on declining natural gas supply and providing affordable, clean and secure electricity to all New Zealanders.”

The energy company now has 15 days to appeal the decision, a move Fuge says they’re considering.