Workers unloading the first of the new wind farm blades off of the Pacific Endeavour. Photo / Warren Buckland
Wind turbine components have arrived at Napier Port, destined for what will become New Zealand’s second-largest wind farm.
Construction began on Meridian Energy’s $395 million Harapaki Wind Farm near the end of 2021.
The site is between Te Haroto and Te Pōhue on the Napier-Taupō Road.
Environmentalists are sure to be big fans of the 41 turbines, each 145 metres high, generating 176MW of renewable energy, enough to power more than 70,000 average households.
The construction was expected to take about three years when it began at the end of 2021.
Chris More, Meridian Energy’s head of Renewable Construction, confirmed arrangements were in place to unload and store the turbine components in Hawke’s Bay.
“The damage to State Highway 5 is still being assessed and we will be working with Waka Kotahi to see how quickly access for over dimensional loads to site can be restored. Until the assessments are completed, the impact on our overall project timeline remains uncertain,” More said.
As of November 2022, around 20km of access roads, turbine and building platforms, and other associated earthworks were nearly complete.
Construction of turbine foundations was well under way at that point too, using concrete from an on-site concrete plant to reduce emissions.
Harapaki Wind Farm project manager Robert Batters said Meridian was able to reduce project emissions by 5000 tonnes of carbon.
The wind turbine components come from Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE), a company based in Spain.
The circumstances around the death are being treated as unexplained.