New Meridian Energy directors announced

Friday 06 July 2012

The Minister of State Owned Enterprises, Hon. Tony Ryall, today announced that two new directors will join the Meridian Energy Board, effective 16 July 2012.

The incoming directors are:

• Sally Farrier – a Canterbury University-educated, Australia-based electricity, gas and water industry expert who has held numerous senior-level roles and was a Director of Hydro Tasmania
• Mark Cairns – Chief Executive of the Port of Tauranga Ltd., since 2005.

Meridian Chairman Chris Moller welcomes the new directors to the Board.

More information is available in the Minister’s announcement.

ENDS

For more information contact:

Amy Lockyer

External Communications
Meridian Energy
021 722 393
meridian.co.nz

About Meridian Energy

 Meridian Energy is an integrated renewable energy company; the largest generator in New Zealand, with a strong pipeline of development options in Australasia; and an electricity retailer throughout New Zealand.

Meridian and its online subsidiary Powershop retail electricity to approximately 290,000 connections − homes, farms and businesses throughout New Zealand. Meridian received the highest customer satisfaction ratings of all the major national retailers, and Powershop was rated first overall, as voted by customers in two independent surveys¹ carried out in 2011.

The Meridian Energy Group includes a parent company Meridian Energy, subsidiary businesses in Australia and the USA and other innovative New Zealand investments that complement our core activities as an electricity generator and retailer. In total the Group employs approximately 775 people and has offices in Wellington, Christchurch and Twizel, and, internationally, in Melbourne, Australia, and San Francisco, California.

Meridian generates electricity from renewable sources − wind and water in New Zealand; wind in Australia; and solar in the USA. The company supplies thirty per cent of New Zealand’s total electricity needs, including to the country’s largest consumer, the New Zealand Aluminum Smelter, near Bluff.  Meridian owns and operates seven hydro stations, six within the Waitaki Hydro Scheme, and four wind farms throughout New Zealand.

In Australia, Meridian owns and operates Mt Millar wind farm and is partnering with AGL Energy to build the Macarthur wind farm, which, at 420 megawatts, will be the largest wind farm in the Southern Hemisphere. The company also built the world’s southernmost wind farm at Ross Island in Antarctica, in partnership with Antarctica New Zealand. Meridian’s solar farm, CalRENEW-1, was the first grid-connected solar farm to be built in California, and the company is using that expertise to build the first solar farm in Tonga.

Meridian’s pipeline of renewable development projects includes options at different stages of investigation and consent. The Australasian development pipeline equates to more than 1,000 megawatts.

Meridian’s commitment to renewable energy, environmental stewardship and support for the communities living alongside its assets makes it authentically sustainable. Meridian continually looks for ways to provide positive energy solutions to customers to help them reduce their energy use.

1. Independent surveys

• Consumer. Energy provider survey results, 28 July 2011. Available at http://www.consumer.org.nz/reports/energy-providers/survey-results
• Fair Go/Colmar Brunton Best in service poll – power companies, 19 October 2011.