Waipipi Wind Farm energised, tilting NZ to renewable future

Media Release

Taranaki windfarm energised, tilting New Zealand towards renewable future
Tuesday, 17 November - The Waipipi windfarm in South Taranaki has started generating 100% renewable,
zero-emissions electricity to the national grid, strategic partners Tilt Renewables and Genesis Energy
announced today.
The milestone energisation of the first turbines is largely to schedule despite the Covid-19 related shutdown of
the site earlier in the year, a credit to contractors and staff at Tilt Renewables. The first generation is also the
latest proof point for Genesis’ Future-gen strategy and its key role in empowering New Zealand’s sustainable
future. Under their strategic partnership, Tilt Renewables owns and operates the windfarm and Genesis
purchases all the energy generated.

Waipipi’s 31 wind-turbines, once fully installed and commissioned, will generate 133.3 megawatts and
produce an expected 455 GWh per year. This is enough to power about 65,000 homes, double the number in
New Plymouth. This will enable a reduction of up to 250,000 tonnes of carbon, equivalent to removing
approximately 70,000 petrol cars from New Zealand roads.

Chief Executive, Marc England, said Waipipi builds on Genesis having already removed 1.8 million tonnes of
CO2 from its portfolio over the last 10 years.

“This is another demonstration of Genesis’ commitment to renewable energy. Our Future-gen strategy will
enable us to further reduce our carbon emissions by another million tonnes in the next ten years,” Mr England
said.

“Our target is to develop 2,650 GWh of new renewable generation options, and Waipipi will deliver the first
455 GWh of that. We will continue to look for further opportunities to transition our baseload thermal
generation portfolio to renewables including new solar, wind and geothermal generation projects.”

Waipipi is Tilt Renewables’ largest New Zealand asset and Chief Executive, Deion Campbell, said to deliver a
large infrastructure project like this whilst dealing with the difficulties posed by Covid-19 lockdowns underlines
the company’s capabilities.

“It proves that we can deliver on our reputation of being a credible independent developer of renewable
energy assets.”

“The fact that our project construction partners coped so well with the current international environment
proves we selected them well and then effectively managed the contractual interfaces and risks. We get it
done.”

“We know our pipeline of projects will play a part in New Zealand’s progress towards a sustainable future and
look forward to helping our strategic partners achieve their goals.”

There are two elements to the Genesis-Tilt Renewables partnership: A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and a
Dispatch Services Agreement (DSA). Under the PPA, Tilt Renewables owns and operates the windfarm and
Genesis purchases the electricity generated. Under the DSA, Genesis manages the wind farm’s output and
offers it into the electricity market for trading. Communication links are established between Waipipi’s control
room and the Genesis Renewable Energy Control Centre at Tokaanu Power station, which shares the wind
farm’s data with Transpower and the NZX.


ENDS

Turbine Fact-box
• Site area = 800ha across 4 properties
• Each tower is 95m high
• Each blade is 63m long and weighs 17 tonnes
• The diameter of the rotors is 130m, compared with the 80m wingspan of an Airbus A380
• The combined height of the tower and blade = 50-story building
• Over 21km of site roads built
• 11km of transmission line and 91 poles
• Will produce enough clean energy each year to power about 65,000 New Zealand homes
• Save up to 250,000 tonnes of carbon = to removing approximately 70,000 petrol cars from New
Zealand roads
• 4.3MW per turbine, largest in New Zealand

Genesis Energy-Tilt Renewables partnership
• Genesis and Tilt Renewables have a 20-year electricity offtake agreement. There is an agreed power
purchasing agreement (PPA) starting price for the first ten years, with regular market resets for the
second ten-year period
• Genesis has entered into a separate agreement to provide offer and dispatch management services
for the wind farm
• Tilt Renewables, as owner will operate, maintain and manage the wind farm for its expected 30-year
life

You can read more about Waipipi’s role in Genesis’ Future-Gen strategy, and its specific renewable energy
targets in the 2020 Annual Report, which aligns with the
Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures’
Recommendations.


Contact:
Tilt Renewables Genesis Energy
Steve Symons Allan Swann
Chief Financial Officer External Communications Manager
Phone +61 419 893 746 Phone: +64 27 211 4874