Waverley farmers champion and benefit from wind farm

Waverley farmer and contractor Warwick Lupton (right) is well known for his hydroplane exploits. Photo / Tracey Grant

Cousins Warwick Lupton and David Alexander farm together near Waverley and it took them 12 years and three electricity generators to get Waipipi Wind Farm established.

"There's a lot of people that said it would never happen, and that makes you drive quite hard," Lupton said.

He and Alexander own most of the 980ha that the windfarm's turbines spread across. They have been heavily involved in it for two years, both as landowners and contractors.

It's a project that has been "pretty challenging" but well worth doing, Lupton said.

The two signed a contract with the builder, Tilt Renewables. They get a percentage of the electricity generated.

"The more they blow, the better we do. They're actually performing really, really well at the moment. It doesn't take a lot of wind to drive them."

Lupton and Alexander have 110 staff and some heavy machinery. The staff do freight deliveries and contracting and have had about two years' work from the windfarm build.

They carted the metal and topsoil, and are still rehabilitating the land after blowouts.

They also managed to carry on farming amid the construction.

"It's quite an interruption to farming, but you can still farm. It wouldn't suit some people," Lupton said.

They carried on grazing cattle and growing crops of oats and grass as 21km of road was put in and 31 turbines erected. They get to use the roads in future, but there has been a lot of fence-shifting.

"It's all right, but you have got to fence it all, and there's easements."

There are 1200 cattle across the land now, and being among the turbines doesn't bother them. The blades turn but are very quiet, even when you are standing right under them, Lupton said.

The people counting birds before construction began had no concerns about how the turbine would affect birds.

Other landowners, the Parininihi ki Waitotara Incorporation and Ngā Rauru Kiitahi iwi, have both been "more than helpful" in the project, Lupton said.

Local people got first pick of the jobs, and Waverley's Four Square benefited by feeding the 150-200 people who came and went from the building site.

"There's a lot of people that did very, very well out of the rental side of it too. The town seemed pretty happy," Lupton said.

There were people who opposed the build, but the majority were reasonably happy now.

Lupton and Alexander enjoyed the project, despite the challenges of communication with corporates and their "new level of health and safety and a lot of rules you have to abide by".

"We have met a lot of good people, clever people who are very interesting to talk to," Lupton said.