Mercury plans $256m wind farm

Mercury has committed to the construction of the first 33 of 60 consented wind turbines at Turitea near Palmerston North.

The 119mW wind farm will generate 470gWh per annum on average, enough electricity to power 210,000 EVs, with construction expected to start in August 2019 and commissioning likely to begin from late 2020.

Market conditions indicate that new renewable energy capacity is required for New Zealand, Mercury chief executive Fraser Whineray says, adding it has been working towards wind farm development for 15 years.

Turitea will be New Zealand’s third largest wind farm when generation connects to the national grid at Linton, and the first large-scale generation addition to New Zealand’s capacity since 2014.

“The estimated $256 million project supports the opening up of a further $750 million investment opportunity in wind energy development,” Whineray says.

Transmission and other infrastructure from this project is scaled to support the development of the remaining 27 turbines at Turitea and on the Puketoi range to the east, where Mercury has consents to construct a 53-turbine wind farm.

Turitea and Puketoi are considered pre-eminent among existing opportunities for wind farm development in New Zealand due to a combination of high average wind speeds and proximity to the national grid, Mercury says.

Vestas-New Zealand Wind Technology, a subsidiary of Vestas Wind Systems A/S – the world’s largest wind turbine supplier, will construct and maintain the Turitea wind farm.

Mercury is contracting separately with Electrix and Transpower for the design and construction of the 220kV transmission line and grid connection to Linton.

“When we break ground for this in a matter of months, it further establishes the Manawatu as New Zealand’s hub for wind energy production,” Whineray says. “It’s one of the best locations in the world.”

Mercury generates around 6800gWh of renewable electricity annually – about 16% of New Zealand’s total electricity generation – from its hydro and geothermal stations in the central North Island. It operates solar business Mercury Solar and has a 60kWp solar array at its Penrose research and development centre in Auckland.

Mercury also owns 19.99% of Tilt Renewables, which operates and develops wind farms in New Zealand and Australia.