First power from Turitea Wind Farm

The first power has been produced from a turbine at Mercury’s Turitea Wind Farm near Palmerston North, the event celebrated by Mercury and contractors Vestas and Downer NZ.

“This is the first turbine of the 60 to stand on this hill and generate renewable electricity for more New Zealand homes and businesses,” Mercury chief executive Vince Hawksworth says.

“Renewable electricity is the key to unlocking New Zealand’s decarbonisation ambitions. The construction of Turitea, and the pipeline of renewable generation to come is a billion dollar-plus commitment to our future by the renewable energy sector.”

Mercury is set to significantly expand its wind portfolio when it acquires the New Zealand operations of Tilt Renewables (five New Zealand wind farms and a pipeline of consented and other development sites).

The acquisition is expected to be completed on August 3, subject to the scheme’s final conditions being satisfied.

While wind generation may be variable hour-to-hour, on average it provides a reliable source of energy to support hydro storage, Mercury says.

Its Waikato River hydro system can be managed to respond to fluctuations in wind output as a result.

“Wind power is a natural fit with Mercury’s renewable generation portfolio, increasing the efficiency of our portfolio to provide more sustainable, reliable electricity to New Zealanders,” Hawksworth explains.

Since ground was broken at Turitea on the $464 million project in October 2019, the majority of the turbines in the northern section have been installed, along with significant earthworks and roading. A dedicated substation (Turitea North) built on site went live last month.

The 60 turbines across the full Turitea Wind Farm will generate up to 840GWh annually – powering the equivalent of 375,000 EVs.

“As the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for Turitea Wind Farm, Vestas is

“It has taken over two years of construction, planning and expertise by the contractors in a dynamic environment to energise this first turbine, and now congratulations are due to all the parties involved in the project”, Vestas senior project manager Kenn Wood says.

Downer NZ utilities executive general manager James Kafanelis says some challenging terrain has been navigated to lay the wind farm’s foundations and roads, as well as constructing the transmission substation and associated circuits.