Contact gets hearing delay

Contact Energy has succeeded in getting a year-long delay to a hearing of a $1 billion-plus wind farm in the Waikato.

A board of inquiry yesterday ruled that the company could have more time to work on engineering and environmental impact details of the application after some evidence came in for robust scrutiny during the early stages of the hearing.

The company had last year urged the Government to have the application "called in" for fast-track planning, saying it was of national significance.

The call-in push raised eyebrows within the power industry because of the short timeframe Contact had to prepare its submission on the 180-turbine project, one of the biggest wind farm proposals in the country.