Environment Court cans Meridian's Project Hayes
by Pattrick Smellie
Nov 6 (BusinessWire) - Meridian Energy has suffered another knockback with the loss of its resource consent application
for Project Hayes, a massive 630 Megawatt wind farm in the South Island's Maniototo region.
The decision caps a horror year for Meridian, in which it has lost its way internally after the departure of the
previous CEO, Keith Turner, failed to perform commercially, and has been forced to put a major customer service
initiative on hold.
The Environment Court decision is an echo of Meridian's failure earlier this decade to gain consent for Project Aqua, a
524MW hydro scheme that would have further modified the Waitaki River, on which Meridian already operates the country's
largest system of hydro dams.
Meridian still has South Canterbury generation options on the go, with proposals advancing for a 230MW hydro tailrace
scheme which would also use Waitaki River water, and assist agricultural irrigation in the water-parched region.
Meridian spokesman Alan Seay said the company was "disappointed" at the Environment Court decision and was now studying
the 350 page decision carefully and considering "next steps", which include appeal.
Meridian has also been forced this to address bloated head office costs and undergo a restructuring, is under pressure
to raise profits while not raising electricity prices, and has recently canned a new customer service system on which it
had already spent $20 million.
(BusinessWire) 18:00:52