The Waipipi Wind Farm is a wind powered electricity generation project in
New Zealand owned and operated by
Mercury NZ Ltd. This site is located between
Patea
Patea ( ) is the third-largest town in South Taranaki District, New Zealand. It is on the western bank of the Pātea River, 61 kilometres north-west of Whanganui on . Hāwera is 27 km to the north-west, and Waverley 17 km to the east ...
and
Waverley in South Taranaki. The wind farm consists of 31 wind turbines over 980 hectares, generating up to 133 MW at a cost of approximately $277 million.
The 4.3 MW machines are the largest wind turbines installed in New Zealand.
History
The Waverley wind farm project was initially proposed in 2007 by Allco Wind Energy but development ceased in 2009 when Allco was put into receivership.
The project was acquired by
Trustpower in 2010
and further developed in 2012. The application for resource consents was lodged with
South Taranaki District Council
South Taranaki is a territorial authority on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island that contains the towns of Hāwera (the seat of the district), Manaia, Ōpunake, Patea, Eltham, and Waverley. The District has a land area of 3,575.46 ...
and the
Taranaki Regional Council
Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont.
The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth D ...
in 2016.
It was approved in July 2017. The final investment decision to proceed with the project was taken in August 2019.
Site work started with a sod-turning ceremony on 1 November 2019. The turbine components were shipped from Denmark and China, arriving at
Port Taranaki
Port Taranaki is a port complex located in New Plymouth, New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ...
in May 2020. The components were then transported by road to Waipipi. On 2 June 2020, the truck carrying the first turbine blade lost control and tipped over at
Ōkato; the driver was uninjured and the blade suffered only minor damage.
The first four turbines were commissioned and started contributing power to the national grid on 16 November 2020.
All turbines were commissioned by early 2021. The windfarm was officially opened in June 2021.
Equipment
The wind farm uses 31
Siemens Gamesa turbines, each with a 130 m rotor diameter and rated at 4.3 MW.
An transmission line connects the wind farm to the national grid at
Transpower's Waverley substation.
See also
*
Wind power in New Zealand
*
Electricity sector in New Zealand
References
External links
*
{{South Taranaki District
Wind farms in New Zealand
South Taranaki District