Waipipi Wind Farm

Resource consents for the Waipipi Wind Farm were secured in July 2017 for the construction and operation of the wind farm and transmission line. The project will involve the construction of 31 wind turbines and support infrastructure including an on-site substation, access tracks, and for the construction period, an on-site concrete batching plant.

The resource consent restricts the maximum wind turbine tip height to 160 metres AGL with the lowest point of the blades required to have a minimum ground clearance of 30 metres (i.e. maximum rotor size of 130 metres).

A copy of the resource consents can be downloaded below:

The Waipipi Wind Farm will produce enough clean energy each year to power about 70,000 homes and save the emission of roughly 350,000 tonnes of carbon. This is the equivalent of removing about 70,000 cars from our roads.

The 800 hectare project envelope covers four properties, excluding those areas which have been identified as part of the Environmental Buffer Zone (EBZ). The formulation of the EBZ within the project site has been informed and refined in response to the various environmental assessments – particularly those relating to visual amenity, natural character, coastal hazards, noise, ecology, avifauna and heritage matters.

Tilt Renewables is committed to open and honest dialogue with all stakeholders, with an aim to build and enhance community acceptance and trust in all projects and in the renewable energy industry.

We welcome your feedback if you have any concerns or believe you can provide local insight into matters which we should address as we enter this next stage of the project.

Community Consultative Group

A community consultation group has been established with members of the community and representatives from Ngaa Rauru, South Taranaki District Council and the Department of Conservation. A first meeting was held on the 10th of July 2019 to introduce the project and members and discuss the role of the group. Further meeting will be scheduled as the project proceeds towards execution. This group will meet at least six monthly during the construction phase and over the first two years of the operation of the project.

The objective of the Consultative Group is to facilitate information flow between the Tilt Renewables’ management team and the community, and will be an on-going point of contact between Tilt Renewables and the community. The functions of the Consultative Group shall also include acting as a forum for relaying community concerns about the construction and on-going operation of the Waipipi Wind Farm to the Tilt Renewables’ on-site management team, developing acceptable means of addressing (where possible) and managing those concerns, and reviewing the implementation of measures to resolve and manage community concerns.

If you would like to express your interest in joining this group as a local resident representative please contact us.

Benefit Sharing

We are also committed to providing financial support to the local community through community benefit programs. Work on a community fund will begin after construction of the project commences and will be administered by a community-led group.

A wind farm brings many direct opportunities for employment to the region during both the construction phase and ongoing operations once the wind farm is commissioned.

Flow on employment benefits are also achieved as the project brings demand for local business services and consumer goods. Most regions have a range of businesses that will provide services to a wind farm project.

These include:

• Domestic scale electricians;
• Transport operators;
• Competent machine operators;
• General labourers;
• Quarries; and
• Concrete businesses.

The Waipipi Wind Farm will directly employ 150 staff during the construction period, which will be up to two years. Economic assessments indicate the multiplier effect will sustain around 700 jobs per year throughout this construction period. Once operational, the proposed Waipipi Wind Farm will employ 3 full-time staff during its 30-year operation.

Tilt Renewables, as the owner of the wind farm, will not typically be directly employing workers, this will be done by our delivery partners and contractors (and their sub-contractors).

Anyone interested in supplying local services or gaining employment is encouraged to register their interest on the goods and services register. We will pass these details on to the relevant parties.

Visit this page regularly to ensure you receive all construction updates relating to the Waipipi Wind Farm.

23 March 2020

Wind farm site construction and the transmission line build have now been underway since early October. Since this time the site access road (from the State Highway 3 turnoff) has been completed and civil and electrical site works have progressed. The site facilities are fully operational and between 70-80 workers are involved in site activities on a daily basis.

For the civil works, the site roads and wind turbine foundations are under construction and to date 16km of site roads have been constructed and 7 turbine foundations have been completed. In addition, the installation of the underground cabling that connects the wind turbines is underway and 15,000m of cabling has been installed to date. The transmission line route to the Waverley substation has also been under construction, with 84 of the 101 transmission line poles installed along the route so far.

Civil and electrical activities will continue for the next 6 months and in early June, wind turbine components will start to be delivered to site from New Plymouth port.

The turbine erection and commissioning phase will last from June through to February 2021.

Newsletters are an important part of Tilt Renewables' community engagement and will increase in frequency as the Project develops.

Visit this page regularly to ensure you receive all updates related to the Waipipi Wind Farm. To subscribe to our newsletter mailing list, please click here.

For further information on the Waipipi Wind Farm please contact the project team at waipipiwindfarm@tiltrenewables.com or on 0800 WE TILT (938 458).

If you have a complaint, please contact us at complaints@tiltrenewables.com.

You can find Tilt Renewables' Complaints Handling Procedure here.

To register interest in providing goods or services for the Waipipi Wind Farm project please click here and complete the form or email us at waipipiwindfarm@tiltrenewables.com and we will add you to our Goods and Services Register.