COVID-19 Support //

We're here to help. Check out our tools and tips on how to stay in control of your electricity costs, and if you need support with paying your power bill please contact us.

  1. Home
  2. Why Mercury
  3. Renewable Energy
  4. Wind Generation
Turitea wind farm.

Turitea wind farm.

We’re building New Zealand’s largest wind farm.

More wonderful, renewable, Kiwi-made electricity will soon be available for homes, businesses and vehicles throughout the country. It’s all part of our long-term mission to create energy freedom and help build New Zealand’s sustainable, low-emissions future.

Find out more about the wind farm and transmission construction.

Keep updated
Tararua Wind Farm.

Tararua Wind Farm.

The Tararua Wind Farm stands on 700 hectares of private farmland in the Tararua Ranges, in the lower North Island of New Zealand. Across all three stages, it is New Zealand’s largest wind farm. Three of the V90 turbines at this site were the first Vestas turbines in the world to reach production of one hundred million kilowatt hours, further cementing the site's reputation as one of the best in the world. Commissioned in 2007, the maximum capacity is 93 MW and the annual output is 318 GWh.

Mahinerangi Wind Farm.

Mahinerangi Wind Farm.

Mahinerangi Wind Farm is located west of Dunedin near Lake Mahinerangi, in the South Island of New Zealand. The wind farm development was split into 2 stages in order to utilise the existing 33kV transmission line to the Deep Stream hydro asset. This was completed in 2011 and consists of twelve Vestas V90 turbines, each producing 3MW, for a total capacity of 36 MW. Estimated annual production is 101 GWh.

Waipipi Wind Farm.

Waipipi Wind Farm.

The Waipipi Wind Farm project is located approximately 6km south-east of Patea and 8km south-west of Waverley, in the South Taranaki, New Zealand. This project has obtained all development and environmental approvals and is now fully operational. The wind farm consists of 31 wind turbines connected to the Transpower 110kV network via 11 kilometres of 110kV transmission line to the Waverley Substation. The installed capacity is 133 MW and annual output is 455 GWh.

Energy from wind in the Manawatū
Watch // Energy from wind in the Manawatū

Energy from wind in the Manawatū.

Experience a bird’s-eye view of the Turitea wind farm, located above the Manawatū.

The Tararua Ranges are the ideal place to harness the strong winds that come in from the west, and Mercury has been working with communities in this area for more than 15 years to realise its wind generation potential.

Power will start to flow from Turitea next summer.

OUR BILLION DOLLAR WIND STORY.

OUR BILLION DOLLAR WIND STORY.

The Turitea wind farm is located in the Tararua Ranges near Palmerston North, in the Manawatū-Whanganui region.

The Puketoi Range to the east (past Pahiatua) is the site of another fully consented 53-turbine wind farm. Transmission assets currently being built for Turitea are scaled to also support future generation transmission from Puketoi.

We believe our sites at Turitea and Puketoi represent some of the best consented renewable generation opportunities available in New Zealand, and we’re excited to bring this wonderful energy to homes and businesses across the country.

The wind farm at Turitea, together with the potential development at nearby Puketoi, represent an investment of more than $1 billion. That’s a similar amount to the investment we made during our development of geothermal generation in the decade to 2013.

Tilt Renewables’ Tararua Wind Farm

Watch // How wind energy generation works.

Take a look behind the sleek white surface of a wind turbine and discover the technology it uses to create electricity from the wind’s natural energy.

How it works.
Watch // How it works.
Wind: Facts and figures.

Wind: Facts and figures.

We're pretty excited about our shiny new turbines! Did you know...

//  that since our original consents were issued in 2011, technology has advanced and turbines are now more efficient and much quieter? We think that's pretty wonderful.

// our Turitea wind farm will be the largest in New Zealand. The turbines on this farm will produce energy that could power 375,000 electric vehicles per year.

//  that when the speed of wind doubles, the energy it produces increases 8-fold.

//  the Turitea wind farm site is believed to be in the top 5% of wind generation sites worldwide.

60 turbines to be installed initially

840 GWh generation per year

125 metres from base to rotor tip


 

Renewable Energy.

Geothermal

Geothermal

We have 5 geothermal stations across the central North Island. Base-load geothermal runs at full capacity about 95% of the time.

More about geothermal
Hydro

Hydro

We have 9 hydro stations on the Waikato River. These stations harness the power of water to generate approximately 10% of NZ's annual energy supply.

More about hydro
Wind

Wind

We’ve started building our first wind farm at Turitea (just outside of Palmerston North), as we work towards New Zealand’s even more sustainable future.

More about wind