Business of blowouts: why windfarms buck the trend

Windfarms can lock in fixed prices for their single biggest cost. (Image: NZME)

Tue, 03 Oct 2023

When the Meridian project team relocated to Hawke’s Bay to construct the Harapaki windfarm, the second largest in the country, they joked about weekends drinking chardonnay in the east coast sun. “They’ve been a bit short-changed,” says Guy Waipara, general manager of development at the gentailer. Since the project began, it’s been hit by three ex-tropical cyclones. The most recent and most devastating, Cyclone Gabrielle, hit the east coast with a fury, cutting transport links, flooding a nearby subs...

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