Te Āpiti wind farm

Te Āpiti is a 55-turbine wind farm located north of the Manawatū Gorge, New Zealand.

The wind farm can generate up to 90.75 megawatts of electricity. Te Āpiti wind farm generates enough electricity each year for about 39,000 average New Zealand homes.

Te Āpiti was the first wind farm Meridian built in New Zealand. It is also the first wind farm to supply electricity into the national energy grid, which is owned by Transpower.

Te Āpiti wind farm can be seen from the Manawatū Gorge walking track. This remarkable gorge is one of the few in the world where a river crosses a mountain range.

Discover Te Āpiti (PDF 1.2MB)

Why build a wind farm here?

Te Āpiti wind farm is located on 1150 hectares of farmland owned by four separate landowners, including Meridian.

The wind near the Manawatū Gorge is exceptional, even by international standards.

The strong, unimpeded winds from the Tasman Sea and the funnel effect of the Manawatū Gorge make this the perfect place for a wind farm.

Meridian built 21 kilometres of roads to transport the turbine parts to the wind farm, and excavated 55 foundations for the turbines.

A 400 tonne crawler crane was used to install the turbines.