Mercury Kaiwera Downs I Windfarm Opens A Year On From Groundbreaking

20 November 2023 – Mercury has cut the ribbon today to celebrate stage one of the Kaiwera Downs Windfarm coming online.

· The ten turbine 43MW wind farm will have annualised generation of 147GWh p.a., adding enough renewable energy to power over 20,000 households or 66,000 EVs.

· Construction of the project, which began October 2022, has been completed under budget and to schedule.

· Mercury is actively considering its next renewable projects, including stage two of Kaiwera Downs which is near Final Investment Decision and would bring the total site capacity to 228MW.

“Kaiwera Downs Windfarm is part of Mercury’s premium renewable growth pipeline. Building more renewables is one of the most meaningful ways Mercury can support New Zealand to meet its climate change goals,” said Mercury GM Portfolio, Phil Gibson.

“This milestone marks the completion of a great project in terms of safety, time, cost and quality – it’s been a great project for us and our partners. We appreciate the excellent planning, safety management, skilled work force and team culture that made this possible. We’re committed to continue working hard to bring more renewables online to power our communities,” said Mr Gibson.

Mercury expects to commit $1 billion in FY24 to renewable generation development to be constructed over the next three years including the expansion of a fifth generating unit at its Ngā Tamariki geothermal station, announced this September.

“The delivery of this project is a testament to the hard mahi of our people and delivery partners, Vestas, Higgins, Electronet and Powernet and their contractors,” said Mr Gibson.

“Gore District Council and community, Transpower and the landowners have also been incredibly supportive and accommodating during the development and construction.”

Mr Gibson said that the project was just one example of commitment from across the electricity sector to New Zealand’s low emissions future.

“The electricity sector is making headway in investing in new renewable generation, which is vital for enabling the electrification and decarbonisation of the economy.”

© Scoop Media