Wind Farm Development in New Zealand : Dimension of Environmental and Community Conflicts

Wind farms are a proven environmentally sound and economically viable means of generating renewable energy. Energy security and sustainability are central to New Zealand's economic future. Population and economic growth and energy intensive industries are rising New Zealand's appetite for electricity. Recent power crisis along with the green image of New Zealand have reinforced the need to take positive steps to ensure a reliable, renewable and sustainable electricity supply for this country. But wind farm projects tend to face opposition at the local level because of its various potential environmental and socio-economic impacts. Therefore, gaining public acceptance becomes one of the most important factors for successful wind farm development. This book identifies the potential impacts of wind farm development with specific attention to those impacts and public dynamics surrounding wind farm development considering the policy context of New Zealand. It also looks into domestic and international wind farms along with drawing out the success and/or failure characteristics with respect to consultation, and impact mitigation providing empirical evidence from New Zealand.