A $16 million wind farm is to be built near Bluff, with eight turbines producing nearly 7 megawatts of power.
The facility will be built by Alexandra-based Pioneer Generation, a company 100 percent owned by the Central Lakes Charitable Trust.
Pioneer chief executive Fraser Jonker said foundation construction will begin in October this year, with the towers being installed early next year. The turbines would be fully commissioned by June 2015.
The project is expected to create 20 jobs for the region during construction and can supply over 2500 homes with power.
Consent for the wind farm was opposed by the local iwi, but that opposition was withdrawn when the company agreed to work with iwi if any artefacts were found during construction.
