Transforming New Zealand’s wind energy future

The incredible energy progress the world needs is within reach. With creative thinking, deep collaboration and real partnership – we are helping Mercury to realise the future of renewable energy creation in New Zealand.

Turitea Wind Farm is New Zealand’s largest wind farm at 222MW, and its development has increased the country’s renewable energy annual generation by 2%. The site, developed by Mercury, produces circa 840GWh each year, enough to make everyday better for local communities by powering 375,000 electric vehicles or 120,000 households.

Constructed on the ridgelines of the Tararua Ranges, above Palmerston North, the 60 wind turbine farm has been years in the making. Our work with Mercury on Turitea Wind Farm started when we supported them with resource consenting for the project and has continued through to today.

Since then, our team of engineers, designers and problem solvers have partnered with Mercury to bring this ambitious project to life. From construction of a new 12km, 220kV transmission line connecting the wind farm, via two on-site substations, into the national grid at Transpower’s Linton substation in 2018. To acting as the Owner’s Engineer for the construction of Turitea and providing the overall project, programme, consent, and environmental management between 2019 and 2022.

Several of our Beca team were embedded into the Mercury team and applied real-world project management, planning, environmental management and consent compliance expertise. The owner’s engineer process covered all aspects of civil and electrical balance of plant.

Early identification of risks, upfront communication, and on time escalations during this phase resulted in significant cost savings and avoidance of potential outage-related losses for Mercury which has helped deliver a complex project while meeting challenging environmental and regulatory requirements.

Since the beginning of this project, our invested team have consistently been inspired by this exciting opportunity to make real change for New Zealand’s energy future.