Business View Oceania | March 2020

77 78 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA MARCH 2020 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA MARCH 2020 MA INPOWER NEW ZEALAND L IMI TED Community engagement has been favourable overall, something which Penny Kibblewhite, GM Customer & Corporate Relations at MainPower, says, “is a great thing for us because our research indicates people are more open to considering new types of renewables and technologies. Understanding what our consumers would like from MainPower is important. Based on the feedback received so far from MainPower consumers in the Waimakariri, Hurunui and Kaikōura regions, they are generally proud that MainPower is leading a project of this magnitude in the South Island. They see this as another opportunity for MainPower to diversify investment.” The simplest way to explain it is that a large majority of the community are electricity consumers, therefore connected to the MainPower network. Those consumers currently receive a rebate which is a discount on the cost of supplying their line services, so they benefit through the Trust ownership. The Trust There is a strong consensus for growth to return, as far as demand for electricity, driven by decarbonisation of the economy. In particular, the electrification of industrial heat in industries like dairy, processing of milk into milk powder, etc. The wind turbine technology over time has resulted in larger and more efficient machines reducing their capital costs and coupled with a very low interest rate environment at the moment, the conditions are right for building renewables, particularly wind. “We also have a very strong partner in GE,” says Voice. “For the first time in New Zealand they’re able to provide a full turnkey EPC (Engineer, Procure & Construct) contract package for someone like MainPower who is not a large gentailer with a project development arm. In addition, GE are able to offer long-term operation and maintenance contracts and guarantees for the full design life of the turbines. This de-risks construction and operations for independent generators such as MainPower. MainPower will own the wind farm through a wholly-owned subsidiary – Mt. Cass Wind Farm Limited.” be positioned along a 7.5km ridge on Mt Cass, about 5km from Waipara in North Canterbury. Todd Voice, General Manager Commercial at MainPower reports, “This project came about as a result of executing the generation strategy where generation has always been a strategic goal of the company. There was a division set up to explore generation opportunities so MainPower actively explored renewable generation – wind, hydro, biomass and solar. It went through a process where there was wind monitoring carried out at different locations. We developed a portfolio of projects and ranked them, with Mt. Cass the best site in terms of wind resource and scale. The consenting phase was an extensive, consultative process and the wind farm as a resource was fully consented in 2012. Since then it’s been assessed, with lots of factors taken into account including demand, the company’s strategic direction and its desire by shareholders to invest in growth opportunities for better utilizing the company’s shareholder funds.”