MERCURY NEWS
26 November 2025
Mercury plans to have the first of 36 new wind turbines assembled at Stage 2 of its Kaiwera Downs Wind Farm in Southland by the end of 2025.
The first shipment of wind turbine components began arriving at South Port near Bluff in late October.
Deliveries to the project site near Gore began on 11 November and will continue to April 2026 as the wind farm takes shape.
Specialised road transport trailers are being used for the 95km journey from South Port to the project site.
Multiple routes will be used, depending on the length and size of the components. Each trip is expected to take about 4-6 hours and is being made in the early morning to avoid disruption to daily commute times and traffic.
The first set of wind turbine blades and a tower section delivered to the wind farm site. Two cranes are needed to lift the four tower sections into place. Photo: George Polgar
Mercury’s Executive GM, Generation Development, Matt Tolcher, said it was exciting to see the blades, nacelles, hubs and tower sections being delivered to the wind farm.
“Our project team has worked hard to prepare the wind farm site for the arrival of the components, and now we are moving into an exciting new phase of our work.
“We are working towards having the first wind turbine assembled before the Christmas break.”
Mr Tolcher highlighted the scope of the work completed on the site.
“The project team has substantially completed construction of the wind farm’s 34km roading network and laid more than 75kms of cable which will be used to connect the wind farm’s 36 turbines.
“Work on 26 of the turbine foundations has been completed, while the wind farm’s new substation and its operations and maintenance buildings are near completion.”
The first tower section being delivered for Stage 2. Stage 1 wind turbines can be seen on the hills in the background. Photo: George Polgar
An impressive 240,000 hours of work were recorded during the first 15 months of construction. About 150 people are working on the site each day.
Stage 2 will have an installed capacity of 155MW and an annual generation of about 525GWh, enough energy to power the equivalent of about 20,000 homes. It is scheduled to be operational in 2026 and completed in 2027.
Mr Tolcher said Mercury was investing heavily in developing new, renewable energy projects.
“We currently have nearly $1b invested in building three new projects; Kaiwera Downs Stage 2, our Kaiwaikawe Wind Farm in Northland and the expansion of our Ngā Tamariki Geothermal Station near Taupō.
“These developments will produce an extra 1.1TWh per year, representing a 2.6% lift in renewable capacity for the country, enough to power the equivalent of about 142,000 houses.”
Mr Tolcher said Mercury was advancing its plans for Stage 2 of its Mahinerangi Wind Farm in Otago and continued planning for its proposed Waikokowai Wind Farm in the Waikato and its Puketoi 2.0 Wind Farm in the Tararua district.