Te Rere was the key driver behind Meridian’s acquisition of NZ Windfarms in 2025.
As it stands, the farm near Palmerston North on the Tararua Ranges has 91 small turbines with generation capacity of 45.5 megawatts (MW).
When approved, the repowering project will involve the construction and operation of up to 40 new turbines, with generation capacity of up to 172MW.
It is New Zealand’s first wind farm repowering project and is expected to generate seven times the annual energy production of the existing wind farm, Meridian said.
A final investment decision is expected from the Meridian board in early 2027, but work is already underway on upgrading access roads to the site.
“Getting this work underway ahead of a final investment decision means we can get off to a flying start, compressing our construction timeline and getting these megawatts into the energy system as soon as we possibly can,” Roan said.
The first stage of Te Rere Hau was built in 2006.
Earlier this week, the company received consent to build a 110MW solar farm near Morrinsville.
The solar farm is one of a number of projects in Meridian’s development pipeline.
The 134ha site is 2km east of Morrinsville and 600m south of the Piako substation, where the solar farm would connect to the national grid.
The consent also allows for electricity storage in the future through a distributed battery energy storage system.
The company plans to invest about $3 billion through to 2030 to add more new renewable energy projects.
The project is also subject to a final investment decision by the Meridian board.
If approved, construction could begin in 2028 and take about two years to build, the company said.
Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets, the primary sector and energy. He joined the Herald in 2011.
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