New Zealand’s "Northern Advocate" reports that a US $402 million (NZ $600m) proposal to generate electricity at the entrance to the Kaipara Harbor could get under way next year. The harbor is one of the largest in the world. It’s a broad shallow harbor covering an area of over three hundred square miles and has more than two thousand miles of shoreline. It has a two and a half mile wide entrance to the Tasman Sea halfway along its length.
"Crest Energy" has applied to the Northland Regional Council for resource consent to set the 22m-tall turbines on the sea floor along about 8km of the 30m deep main channel at the harbor entrance.
The tidal energy is expected to get the turbines generating 200 megawatts of power - enough for 250,000 homes. The turbines, shielded from fish, would sit on heavy concrete pylons and be at least 5m from the surface at low tide. Personal boats and barges could pass over them, but would be restricted from anchoring in the turbine area. If the project gets the green light, possibly around the middle of next year, the company plans to raise about $50 million to begin building the turbines, making it the largest tidal wave energy plant in the world, 200 submerged tidal-powered turbines.