The Harapaki Wind Farm is a
wind farm project in the
Hawke's Bay region of
New Zealand. Construction began in June 2021 and is expected to continue for three years.[3][4]
History
In 2006, Hawke's Bay Wind Farm Ltd was granted resource consent for a 75 turbine, 225 MW wind farm at Titiokura.[5] The same year
Unison Networks was granted consent for a 15 turbine, 45 MW development. Both consents were upheld by the Environment Court in October 2006.[6] A proposed expansion of Unison's project[7] was rejected by the Environment Court in 2009.[8][9]
In 2010 Hawke's Bay Wind Farm Ltd was purchased by
Meridian Energy.[10] Unison's consent was purchased in 2011, and the sites combined.[11]
In August 2019 Meridian sought interest from potential contractors for the wind farm's construction.[11] Construction was expected to begin in 2020, but was delayed due to the possible closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter.[12] In February 2021 Meridian announced that construction would begin later that year, and would take approximately three years.[13][14] Site preparation began in mid-2021.[15] The first turbines arrived in Napier in March 2023[16] and transportation of components to the wind farm site began in July 2023 when State Highway 5 had been sufficiently repaired following the damage caused by
Cyclone Gabrielle.[17]
The wind farm began generating in November 2023[18][19] and is expected to reach full capacity by September 2024.[20][1]
Location
The wind farm is being built on the
Maungaharuru Range, near the Titiokura Summit, about 34 km northwest of
Napier Airport.[5] The altitude of the range is approximately 1300 metres.
Operation
The wind farm will use 41
Siemens Gamesa 4.3 MW turbines, measuring 85 m (279 ft) from base to hub with a rotor diameter of 120 m (394 ft). Electricity will be supplied to the national grid via a new substation on
Transpower's Redclyffe-Whirinaki-
Wairakei 220 kV transmission line.[21]
^
ab"Fact sheet: August 2007"(PDF). Hawke's bay wind farm ltd. August 2007. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 25 September 2008.