Wind farm consent a major boost for renewables

Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges has welcomed today’s Environment Court decision to grant consents for what could be the largest wind farm project in New Zealand.

Genesis Energy’s Castle Hill project allows for 286 turbines, generating up to 860 megawatts of renewable electricity in an area north of Masterton and east of Eketahuna. This would be enough to power around 370,000 homes.

“This is a major boost to our continued confidence in renewables. It shows that companies are clearly willing to invest in progressing cost-effective options to meet New Zealand’s future electricity needs,” says Mr Bridges.

“I note that Genesis Energy has entered this project without any form of subsidy support from the Government.”

The project brings the total amount of consented renewable electricity generation capacity throughout New Zealand to well over 4000 megawatts, enough to meet almost 30 years of demand.

“It is projects like this that ensure we are well on our way to achieving our 90 percent renewable electricity target by 2025. I am confident that the majority of electricity generating capacity to be built over coming years will be renewable,” Mr Bridges says.