For release: Monday 4th December 2006
NEWS RELEASE
RES Enters New Zealand Wind Market With New Puketiro Project
Renewable Energy Systems (RES) announced today that it has been chosen as the developer of the Puketiro wind farm, a
prospective project on land owned by Greater Wellington Regional Council and, potentially, adjacent private landowners
near Wellington, New Zealand. This marks the RES Group’s first project in the country and will be developed by RES New
Zealand [1] with support from RES Australia and RES Limited.
The Puketiro wind farm will have an estimated installed capacity of more than 90MW. RES was selected from a strong
shortlist of tenders that included all major generators in New Zealand. The tender process was run by Greater Wellington
Regional Council and commenced early in 2006 with a call for Expressions of Interest.
RES Limited Commercial Director, Mike O’Neill said: “We are very excited to have won the opportunity to develop this
project. Our team has worked very hard on the tender over the year, and we are delighted that Greater Wellington
Regional Council has recognised RES’ track record of wind project delivery. It will be a very prominent project, likely
to gain significant public attention. Greater Wellington Regional Council received 1300 submissions when they consulted
the community about developing the wind farm, with 93 percent in support. We will be working closely with Greater
Wellington Regional Council and consulting local stakeholders throughout the development, construction and operation of
this project."
RES New Zealand is in the process of establishing an office in Wellington, which is likely to be open and engaging local
personnel in early 2007. Once established, the company will be assessing further opportunities in the New Zealand wind
energy market. However the initial focus of the company is to fulfil its commitment to deliver the Puketiro project.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
1. RES New Zealand Limited was incorporated on 16 November 2006. It is wholly-owned by the RES Group, one of the world’s
leading wind energy developers and part of the British Sir Robert McAlpine construction and engineering group. RES has
been active in the Australian market for a number of years, establishing an office in Sydney in 2003 and developing the
Taralga wind farm in New South Wales, which was granted development approval earlier this year. The RES Group has been
at the forefront of the global wind energy market for more than twenty years and has constructed over 1200MW of wind
energy capacity worldwide. For more information visit www.resgroup.com