Northland wind farm helps Mercury’s $1b commitment to new renewable energy

Mercury says it will construct a $287 million Kaiwaikawe Wind Farm near Dargaville in Northland, bringing its total commitment to new renewables to more than $1 billion over two years.

“Kaiwaikawe construction starts in January 2025 and at that point Mercury will have three renewable energy builds underway simultaneously,” says Mercury chief executive Stew Hamilton.

“That includes the expansion of our Ngā Tamariki geothermal power station near Taupō, the expansion of our Kaiwera Downs Wind Farm in Southland, and now adding Kaiwaikawe in Northland to that group of projects,” he says.

“All three will generate an additional 1136GWh pa for New Zealand when completed, helping to lift the country’s renewable energy capacity connected to the national grid by about 2.6%.”

Mercury expects first generation in mid-2026 at Kaiwaikawe and full generation by the end of 2026.

Kaiwaikawe is a 12-turbine wind farm and will generate 77MW, providing 221GWh yearly, enough to power about 27,000 homes, or almost every occupied dwelling in Whangarei district, it says.

“The Kaiwaikawe Wind Farm is part of our high-quality generation pipeline, which includes the $486m Kaiwera Downs Wind Farm expansion and the $220m Ngā Tamariki geothermal station expansion,” says Mercury generation development executive general manager Matt Tolcher.

“We are in the final stages of negotiating offtake arrangements with Genesis.

“We have worked alongside mana whenua, Te Roroa, in the years of build-up to this project, and we look forward to continuing to work with them through construction and operation.”

The wind farm will feature 12 Vestas V162-6.4MW wind turbines, which Mercury says is the first of this model built in New Zealand with the tower height of the turbines 125 metres, the rotor diameter 162m and the turbine tip height 206m.

Mercury is seeking amendments to existing resource consents for its proposed Mahinerangi Stage 2 Wind Farm near Dunedin and Puketoi Wind Farm in the Tararua district.

It has also added two new projects to the pipeline including a grid-scale battery near its Whakamaru hydro station north of Taupō and the Waikokowai Wind Farm west of Huntly.

Mercury plans an annual community fund to support groups and communities around the Kaiwaikawe Wind Farm, expected to involve up to 100 jobs during construction.