Contact consent for Southland Wind Farm is declined
18 March 2025
Contact consent for Southland Wind Farm is
declined
The Expert Consenting Panel convened under the COVID-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act
2020 has declined Contact Energy’s consent application for its proposed Southland Wind Farm
project.
“The decision by the Panel to decline Contact’s proposed wind farm is extremely concerning” said
Chief Executive Officer, Mike Fuge. “It represents a significant setback for New Zealand’s
decarbonisation, Contact’s mission to improve electricity security of supply and the country’s
economic development.”
“Contact has worked tirelessly during the process over the past few years to respond to feedback and
shape the project to minimise local effects. This work led to a project scope that had the support of
the Department of Conservation, Ngai Tahu, Environment Southland and the Southland District
Council.”
“Investing and building renewable energy generation, like the Southland Wind Farm, is in the national
interest and is critical to reducing reliance on declining natural gas supply and providing affordable,
clean and secure electricity to all New Zealanders. During construction, the New Zealand economy
would benefit from the creation of up to 240 new jobs, with around $230m to $280m in domestic
spend.”
The Panel’s decision can be appealed to the High Court within 15 working days, only on points of law
and either by the applicant or those who were invited to comment during the application process.
“We strongly believe a project such as this would benefit all of New Zealand. We will take the time to
review the decision and assess the next steps available to us,” said Mr Fuge.
Project details:
• Southland Wind Farm is a 330MW, 55-turbine, wind farm to be located approximately 15km
east of Wyndam in Southland.
• The project is expected to produce ~1,200GWh of additional generation per annum.
- ends -
Investor enquiries Media enquiries
Shelley Hollingsworth Jody Tuffin
Investor Relations and Strategy Manager Senior Communications Advisor
+64 27 227 2429 +64 21 029 53732
investor.relations@contactenergy.co.nz media@contactenergy.co.nz
Data sourced from publicly available filings. Our datasets may not be complete. Automated analysis can produce errors. If you believe any data on this page is incorrect, please contact us at hello@nzxplorer.co.nz. For informational purposes only. Not investment advice.
Other issuers discussed similar conditions around this time
Matched by meaning across NZX announcement text, not keywords — based on our semantic index of announcement bodies.
- MEL — Meridian Energy Limited: Meridian secures consent for Mt Munro Wind Farm2025-02-17
“Release M e r i d i a n E n e r g y L i m i t e d ( A R B N 1 5 1 8 0 0 3 9 6 ) A c o m p a n y i n c o r p o r a t e d i n N e w Z e a l a n d L e v e l 2 , 9 8 C u s t o m h o u s e Q u a y , W e l l i n g t o n 6 0 1 1 m e r…”
- MEL — Meridian Energy Limited: Ruakākā Solar Farm gains planning consent2025-02-09
“Release M e r i d i a n E n e r g y L i m i t e d ( A R B N 1 5 1 8 0 0 3 9 6 ) A c o m p a n y i n c o r p o r a t e d i n N e w Z e a l a n d L e v e l 2 , 9 8 C u s t o m h o u s e Q u a y , W e l l i n g t o n 6 0 1 1 m e r…”
- MEL — Meridian Energy Limited: Meridian Energy Limited 2025 Interim Results2025-02-25
“being the first grid-connected of this size in New Zealand, we and Transpower have learnt a lot. We think we can largely apply a cookie cutter approach to our next battery at Bunnythorpe. We're still sizing up that option, but conservatively, it will be at least 100 megawatt…”