New Zealand Wind Energy Association

Download the full programme (84 kb, PDF), which includes short descriptions of all presentations

Monday Afternoon, 29 March

1.00 pm: Tararua wind farm tour and turbine experience

4.00: Registrations open

5.00: Official opening of the exhibition hall

Tuesday, 30 March

8.00 am: Registrations open

9.00: Welcome and conference opening

• Palmerston North City Mayor Jono Naylor

9.20: Tararua Wind Farm: delivering benefits to the Manawatu, Deion Campbell, Manager - Major Projects, TrustPower

9.50: International keynote address Wind energy in Ireland, Michael Walsh, Chief Executive Officer, Irish Wind Energy Association

Michael's participation is proudly sponsored by TrustPower.

10.30: Morning tea

11.00: Capturing the energy in New Zealand's wind: international and New Zealand perspectives

• Wind energy market outlook: an international perspective, Dan Hansen, CEO/Managing Director, Suzlon Energy Australia Pty Ltd
• Electricity grids of the future and connecting renewables, Anthony Johnston, Executive Sales Manager - Major Projects, Siemens Ltd
• What next for NZ's electricity sector? Matt Freeman, Energy News
• Taking up the gauntlet: the challenge of moving from consent to operation, Adam Muldoon, Manager - Wind Development, Meridian Energy
• Panel discussion and Q&A
• Wind energy, New Zealand's energy, Fraser Clark, Chief Executive, NZWEA

1.00: Lunch

2.00: Parallel sessions

Planning for wind energy

• From megawatts to gigawatts, Fiona Weightman, Manager, Energy Supply, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority
• Where there's a wind, there's a way: wind energy potential in Canterbury, Mike O'Connell, Energy Policy Analyst, Environment Canterbury
• The Environmental Protection Agency and Ministerial Call-in: key considerations for consenting wind farms, John Hassan, Partner, Chapman Tripp

Utilising NZ's wind resource 

• An investigation of the potential synergy between wind and hydro resources in New Zealand, Cameron Potter, Managing Director, 3TIER Pacific Rim
• South-facing wind farms for peaking generation, Paul Baker, Energy sector consultant, and Blair Walter, Renewable Energy Leader, Aurecon
• Quantification of uncertainty in cross-correlation, Simon Faulkner, Senior Engineer Renewable Energy, Aurecon

Wind energy integration: practical experience

• West Wind, grid integration and keeping the lights on, Ray Brown, Transmission Manager, Meridian Energy
• Wind generation compliance with South Island frequency limits, Steve Nutt, Transpower
• Wind energy converters with FACTS capabilities, Stephan Wachtel, Sales – Head of Technical Support, ENERCON GmbH, Germany

3.15: Afternoon tea

3.45: Parallel sessions

Ecology

• DOC's role in advocating for significant indigenous avifauna with regards to wind farms, Bruce Hill, RMA Planner, Bruce McKinlay, Technical Support Officer - Terrestrial fauna, Department of Conservation Otago Conservancy
• Wind energy or biodiversity: do we have to choose? Mark Christensen, Partner, Anderson Lloyd Lawyers
• Use of Radar for Quantifying Effects of Windfarms on Migratory Birds, Taharoa Windfarm, Waikato, Stephen Fuller, Managing Principal/Ecologist, Boffa Miskell

Wind energy on the ground: site assessment

• Scoping geotechnical assessments for wind developments, Bruce Symmans, Senior Geotechnical Engineer, Tonkin & Taylor
• The road to a construction traffic management plan: how and why constraints on construction are developed, Richard Galloway, Principal Transportation Engineer, Traffic Design Group
• Aerial surveying tools for wind farm development, Steve Smith, Business Development, Aerial Surveys Limited

Wind energy integration: policy and regulations

• New grid connection codes, Speaker to be confirmed, Transpower
• Innovative solutions for grid stabilisation and support, John Penny, General Manager ABB LV Power Converter Products
• Wind Integration Project update, Speaker to be confirmed, Electricity Commission

5.00: Ministerial address and launch of the Wind Energy Development Guidelines Project

• Environment Minister Nick Smith and Fraser Clark, Chief Executive, NZWEA

Wednesday, 31 March

8.00 am: Registrations open

9.00: International keynote address: Wind farms and landscapes, Marc van Grieken, Principal, Land Use Consultants

9.45: Panel discussion: Finding the balance between flexibility and certainty

10.30: Morning tea

11.00: Parallel sessions

Consenting challenges and community relations

• Long Gully: working with communities, Emma Patrick, Project Manager, Windflow Technology
• NZS6808: communicating the wind turbine noise standard, Stephen Chiles, Senior Associate, URS and Sarah Vaughan, Communications Advisor, NZWEA
• Experiences with wind farm noise: Project West Wind, Paul Botha, Meridian Energy
• Overcoming challenges in developing wind energy on the Chatham Islands, Hamish Peacock, Planning Business Development Manager, Planning Team Leader, MWH New Zealand Ltd

Project optimisation

• Project planning and transmission, Speaker to be confirmed, Powerco
• The missing link: selecting, acquiring and consenting electricity line routes for wind farms, Laurence Sherriff, Managing Director, and Allan Burdett, Senior Negotiator and Property Consultant, Environmental Challenge
• Wind farm procurement: an Australian perspective, Toby Anderson, Partner, Freehills
• Optimising wind farm performance: case studies, Rose Divjak, Engineer, Garrad Hassan Pacific

Wind energy research

The student presentations in this session are proudly sponsored by Transpower.

• Accelerating the implementation of wind energy in New Zealand: the adaptability of a feed in tariff, Manuel Schaefer, Masters Student, University of Otago
• Experience with LIDAR performance in complex terrain, David Wahl, Renewables Engineer, Aurecon and Rebecca Quinlan, Generation Development Engineer, Genesis Energy
• Simulating the Bolund hill flow by three different CFD approaches, Dr Stéphane Sanquer, Business Development Engineer, Meteodyn
  Assessment of protection schemes for wind farm grid integration, Waqar A Qureshi, PhD Candidate, Auckland University

12.35 pm: Lunch

1.35: Parallel sessions

Landscape

• Visual consultation tools: presenting wind farms at public forums in Australia, North America and New Zealand, Russell Maunder, Business Development Manager, Truescape Limited
• Landscape and the community – improving acceptance of wind farm developments, Shannon Bray, Shannon Bray Landscape Architect Ltd
• Cultural perspectives on landscape issues, Anthony Olsen, Senior Cultural Advisor, Boffa Miskell

Project optimisation

• Power curve testing for wind turbines, Philip Wong Too, Senior Engineer, Garrad Hassan
• Making viable wind farms into bankable projects, Taraz Saba, Manager and Principal Wind Engineer, Wind Power Group (Australasia), Parsons Brinckerhoff
• Wind farm economics: a comparison between NZ and other countries, Mark Weber, Masters Student, Canterbury University

Operations and maintenance

• Managing one of the most extreme wind farm sites, Thomas Bruun, Service Manager, Energy Sector – Renewables, Siemens (NZ) Ltd
• Wind turbine service technicians, Danny Nielsen, Vice President Operations, Vestas Australian Wind Technology
• Tower escape change in the European Standard, Alex Winkler, Product Development, SOLL

2.50: Afternoon tea

3.20: Project round up

4.20: Conference wrap up, Fraser Clark, NZWEA CEO

4.30: Post conference drinks