Mercury’s GM Portfolio Phil Gibson and Mayor-Elect of Gore District Council Ben Bell, used a yellow spade to celebrate the start of construction of Stage I of Mercury’s $115m Kaiwera wind farm near Gore.
The ceremony, attended by Council, community members and landowners formally marked the start of the construction of the first 10 wind turbines that Mercury is committed to on the site.
The symbolic occasion celebrated the enormous amount of work that’s gone on so far to make this project shovel- ready, with Gore District Council, Environment Southland and delivery partners on the project Vestas, Higgins, Electronet and Powernet.
“Mercury takes a long term view and is really pleased to be taking this next step on New Zealand’s decarbonisation journey. Our significant investment in new electricity generation demonstrates our care for New Zealand and its future generations,” said Phil.
“The renewable energy that will be generated here will reduce New Zealand’s carbon emissions and provide more renewable electricity to other sectors like transport and process heat.”
The recent independent report by Boston Consulting Group* (BCG) found that to reach over 98% renewable generation, around 4.8GW new renewable generation was needed to be built by 2030.
Mercury is initially committing $115m to the 43MW Stage I phase of the project, lifting Mercury’s total commitment to new renewable wind generation to almost $600 million since 2019. This wind farm is part of a significant renewable growth pipeline for Mercury, with several other renewable projects under investigation.
“The Kaiwera Downs wind farm will begin generating renewable electricity this time next year, contributing to New Zealand’s sustainable, low emissions future, by making more renewable electricity available for homes, businesses and vehicles around the country.”