NZ Windfarms gets Hau Nui Windfarm from Genesis

NZ Windfarms says it has acquired Hau Nui (‘big wind’ in te reo) wind farm about 21km south-east of Martinborough in South Wairarapa near Wellington from Genesis Energy.

It was the first wind farm built in New Zealand and includes 15 Enercon turbines with 8.65MW capacity.

Hau Nui was built in two stages – the first stage in 1996 comprising seven 550kW turbines and stage 2 in 2004 adding a further eight 600kW turbines, says NZ Windfarms, pointing out several key strategic and operational factors are behind its decision.

NZ Windfarms says Hau Nui is a “top class wind resource (Class 1) with a number of options available for repowering”, “creates diversity in our portfolio and maintains a revenue stream during the decommission and repower of Te Rere Hau windfarm”, and provides “an opportunity to align ongoing maintenance, operation and repowering activities at Hau Nui with those at Te Rere Hau and use the experience gained from Te Rere Hau to achieve economies of scale and positive economic outcomes”.

Five of the turbines are not operating and two operate at a reduced capacity, says NZ Windfarms.

The company says that, from an operational perspective, the intention is to run the existing fleet while undertaking necessary refurbishment and explore repowering options in parallel based on the learnings gained through the proposed repower of Te Rere Hau (TRH) windfarm – a joint venture with Meridian Energy.

“We are currently targeting to make a Final Investment Decision (FID) in June 2025 which is six to eight weeks later than originally envisaged,” says NZ Windfarms of the TRH project.

Hau Nui’s annual output is expected to be between 12 and 15GWh which as a comparison is between 12% and 14% of Te Rere Hau’s current output, says NZ Windfarms.

“The acquisition will be funded out of existing cash reserves and the purchase became unconditional on October 25, 2024, with settlement due to occur on November 25, 2024.”

As part of the TRH Repower project, NZ Windfarms says it is completing preparations to raise its share of additional equity for the joint venture and in August launched an Expression of Interest (EOI) phase.

It says some parties have been selected for the due diligence phase, expected to finish at the end of this year, when a “preferred party” is likely to be chosen.

NZ Windfarms has landowner agreements for several other ‘greenfield’ wind development sites across New Zealand and is undertaking wind measurement and effects assessments in preparation for consent and development.

One of these sites is the previously consented unbuilt Class 1 site “Motorimu”in the Tararua Ranges, just south of Turitea Windfarm, which NZ Windfarms plans to have at FID by the end of 2029.

“We have also purchased a number of met masts to inform energy yield assessments for these sites,” says NZ Windfarms chair Craig Stobo.