Large New Zealand Wind Farm Project Denied Approval on Environmental Grounds

The current resources minister has questioned the decision.

Wind turbines dot the landscape at Pen y Cymoedd Wind Farm in Wales, the UK, on Aug. 1, 2024. Carl Court/Getty Images

New Zealand has declined to advance a large wind turbine farm in the country’s south.

An independent Expert Consenting Panel—established under New Zealand’s COVID-19 Recovery (Fast-Track Consenting) Act, passed in 2020—has declined resource consent for the 55-turbine, 330 megawatt windfarm in Southland, near the bottom of the country’s South Island.