Earthworks begin at Mercury Energy's $115m Kaiwera wind farm

Tuesday, 4 October 2022

Work has begun on earthworks at Mercury Energy’s $115 million wind farm at Kaiwera, near Gore.

Diggers and dump trucks moved on to the site this week and began groundwork in preparation for the initial 10 turbines that will be built, which will generate enough electricity to power an estimated 20,000 homes or 66,000 electric vehicles.

Once built, the turbines will stand 145 metres tall from base to turbine tip.

Project manager Stewart Reid said the initial work included putting in environmental buffers to control sediment runoff. Once they were in place the top soil would be stripped, which would be used to rehabilitate the site when it was completed.

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Roads would start to be formed next week, he said.

The project, which will generate 43-megawatts, is expected to take a year to complete.