Wind power in New Zealand

Wind power constitutes a small but growing proportion of New Zealand's electricity. As of November 2023, wind power accounts for 1,059 MW of installed capacity and over 6 percent of electricity generated in the country.
New Zealand has abundant wind resources. The country is in the path of the Roaring Forties, strong and constant westerly winds, and the funneling effect of Cook Strait and the Manawatū Gorge increase the resource's potential. Over three-quarters of the country's wind generation is installed within a radius of Palmerston North, with some turbines in the area having a capacity factor of over 50 percent.

Generation capacity and expansion

As of December 2020, New Zealand had an installed wind generation capacity of 690 MW. In the 2020 calendar year, wind power produced 2,282 GWh of electricity, 5.5 percent of the country's electricity generation that year.
A further 2,500 MW of wind farms have received resource consent.
The New Zealand Wind Energy Association predicts that wind could reach 20 percent of New Zealand's annual generation by 2035.

Wind potential

New Zealand has outstanding wind resources, due to its position astride the Roaring Forties, resulting in nearly continuous strong westerly winds over many locations, unimpeded by other nearby landmasses at similar latitude. One study found that using 1% of total available land for wind farms would produce approximately 100,000 gigawatt hours per year.

Coping with intermittency

Wind farms partner well with hydro plants on the same grid to create combined power plants, because hydro plants can be uprated with extra turbine units to provide highly dispatchable peak generating capacity above the average flows of their rivers, at lower cost than other peak power options.

List of operating wind farms

Only wind turbines and farms over 5 MW generating capacity are listed. Individual demonstration and prototype wind turbines have been installed at Southbridge in Canterbury, Gebbies Pass near Christchurch and Brooklyn in Wellington. Many small windmills serve as windpumps on New Zealand farms.

Name	Commissioned	Operator	Region	Number of turbines	Installed capacity	Annual average generation	Coordinates
Flat Hill	2015	Pioneer Energy	Southland	8	6.8
Hau Nui	1997	NZ Windfarms	South Wairarapa	15	8.65	22
Harapaki	2023	Meridian Energy	Hawke's Bay	41	176
Kaiwera Downs	2023	Mercury Energy	Southland	10	43	148
Mahinerangi	2011	Mercury Energy	Otago	12	36	105
Mill Creek	2014	Meridian Energy	Wellington	26	59.8
Mt Stuart	2011	Pioneer Energy	Otago	9	7.65
Tararua	1999–2007	Mercury Energy	Manawatū	134	161	650
Te Āpiti	2004	Meridian Energy	Manawatū	55	91	258
Te Rere Hau	2006–11	NZ Windfarms	Manawatū	97	48.5
Te Uku	2011	WEL Networks / Meridian Energy	Waikato	28	64.4
Turitea	2021 2023	Mercury Energy	Manawatū	60	220
Waipipi	2020	Mercury Energy	South Taranaki	31	133.3	455
Project West Wind	2009	Meridian Energy	Wellington	62	142.6	550
White Hill	2007	Meridian Energy	Southland	29	58	200

Meridian Energy also operates a 1 MW wind farm on Ross Island, Antarctica. It is not included in the above list as it does not contribute electricity to the New Zealand national electricity network.