Meridian Energy has consent to build and operate a wind farm in the Hawkes Bay. The sites are approximately 35 kilometres northwest of Napier Airport.

The proposed wind farm combines the consents granted for two proposed wind farms in 2005. Meridian purchased the resource consent for Hawkes Bay wind farm from Hawke's Bay Wind Farm Ltd in 2010. It also purchased the consent for the neighbouring Titiokura site from Unison Networks.

The Hawkes Bay site is consented for up to 225 megawatts, and the Titiokura site is consented for up to 45MW. Meridian is undertaking further investigations at the sites before determining the size of the project it will proceed with but is expected to have a capacity of around 160 MW.

Unison had sought to extend the proposed Titiokura wind farm by applying for consent for up to 111 megawatts at the nearby Te Waka site. Te Waka originally received consent from the Hastings District Council but this decision was overturned by the Environment Court in April 2007. In June 2007 Unison applied for consent for a modified version of its Te Waka project. The Minister for the Environment "called-in" the application to the Environment Court, which declined consent for the revised proposal in February 2009.

As of 2019, Meridian has approval from the Hastings District Council to construct and commission a 41-turbine wind farm. No confirmed start date has been set for construction.

Once operational, the wind farm will deliver enough renewable energy to power around 70,000 average homes, supporting New Zealand’s goal of reducing carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuels.

Commencement of Construction

Meridian Energy committed to the construction of the Harapaki Wind farm in February 2021. The wind farm will consist of 41 x 4.3MW turbines and have a total capacity of 176 MW with an annual forecast output of 542 GWh pa, enough renewable energy to power over 70,000 households.

Construction is expected to take 36 months.

More Information

For information visit the Meridian Energy website.

Location

The site for our proposed Harapaki wind farm is located within the Maungaharuru Range in Hawke’s Bay, approximately 35km northwest of Napier.

To see where the wind farm would be sited, change the view to satellite and zoom in.