Firth mobilises mobile plants for two major wind farms
Firth continues to set the standard in supplying concrete to New Zealand’s most remote sites, deploying four mobile plants for two major wind farm projects: Kaiwera Downs - 15 km southeast of Gore and Kaiwaikawe - 12 km northwest of Dargaville. Both projects are being constructed by Higgins for Mercury Energy.
Stage two of Kaiwera windfarm, foundation number two. The wind turbines from stage one can be seen in the background.
Kaiwera Wind Farm
Stage one of Kaiwera, completed in 2023, saw 10 × 4.3 MW Vestas turbines brought to life using Firth’s trusted 28-year-old mobile plant - a unit previously used at Waipipi Wind Farm and Auckland Airport.
Stage two required larger volumes of concrete, prompting the addition of a brand-new Con-E-Co plant shipped from the USA, which became operational in March. By the end of November, 24 of 36 foundations were complete.
Mark Dempsey, Firth’s Area Operations & Sales Manager for Otago & Southland, explains: “It hasn’t just been base pours, we’ve supplied hundreds of extra cubic metres to help raise the ground, adding complexity but keeping the project on track. Adding to supply from the mobile plants we utilised the Firth Invercargill plant and team, along with colleagues from across the country, who delivered exceptional service under a tight schedule.”
Douglas Hall, Project Manager for Higgins says, “Despite weather delays, Mark and his team have been fantastic to work with.”
Kaiwaikawe Wind Farm
Meanwhile in the North, Nigel Furze and Firth Northland’s team have been busy at Kaiwaikawe, 3 km inland from the Tasman Sea. The site will host 12 of New Zealand’s tallest and largest turbines.
A new Con-E-Co plant was installed in June, joined by a second unit from Hamilton. For the first two foundations Firth’s Dargaville plant boosted supply and produced 454 m³, with the mobile A and B plants contributing 932 m³ and 100 m³ respectively - a total of 1,486 m³ delivered over 270 truckloads!
“We only have four more pours remaining, two for December and the other two in January,” says Nigel. “We will complete the last south side pour in December. There has been approximately 7,000 m³ supplied to the foundations for this farm to date. Well done to my Northland team.”
