Kaiwera Downs windfarm project still viable in Southland

Friday, 11 June 2021

A project to build a windfarm near Gore may have a third new owner.

Power company Mercury is in the process of acquiring assets owned by Tilt Renewables NZ, including the Kaiwera Downs project, but there are still shareholder and legal steps before the transaction is completed.

When asked about the future of the Kaiwera Downs project, a Mercury spokesperson said the proposed windfarm remained owned by Tilt until the sale goes through.

“Mercury looks forward to working with the Kaiwera Downs landowners once the transaction completes, currently anticipated to be in August.’’

**READ MORE:

* Wind farms make cheap, green power – so why did we stop building them?

* Mercury to own more of Palmerston North's turbines on the skyline

* Windfarm operator Tilt Renewables to be sold for nearly $3 billion

**

The Kaiwera Downs project was first proposed by Trustpower, and resource consents for the project were granted in late 2008, despite opposition from some farmers.

The consents allow for the construction of up to 83 wind turbines or 240MW of capacity.

Tilt Renewables was demerged from Trustpower in 2016.

This week the Climate Change Commission’s roadmap for reducing emissions recommended expanding renewable generation so that 95 per cent of New Zealand’s power generation was renewable.

The Commission’s report, Inaia tonu nei: a low-emissions-future-for-Aotearoa, says long-term scenarios showed that renewable wind and solar generation would have to rapidly expand in the 2030s and beyond to meet increased electricity demand as electric vehicles are widely adopted.

In Southland, Meridian Energy operates the White Hill Wind Farm near Mossburn, where 29 wind turbines can generate up to 58 megawatts of electricity, enough each year for about 22,000 average New Zealand homes.

A proposed wind farm on Rakiura Stewart Island, which gained $3.16 in funding from the Provincial Growth Fund, was canned earlier this year after agreement could not be reached on a suitable location.