COVID-19 forces Mercury to halt work on 222-MW wind project

Mercury NZ Ltd (NZE:MCY) will halt construction activities at its 222-MW Turitea onshore wind complex following the coronavirus breakout.

The New Zealand power producer said on Wednesday it will cease work at the site in the Manawatu-Wanganui region for an unspecified period of time as the country prepares for lockdown in order to stop the spread of the novel infectious disease. According to the government’s regulations, all non-essential construction work must be halted.

The NZD-464-million (USD 271.6m/EUR 251.2m) Turitea wind farm was initially slated to begin operations late in 2021 when turbines in its 103-MW southern zone were planned to be switched on. The 33 machines at the complex’s 119-MW northern zone (phase one) were expected to go live this summer. The overall commissioning timeframe of the project will now change, the developer said but added efforts will be made to accelerate work.

Mercury said it will monitor the COVID-19 response levels and work with contractors Vestas Wind Systems A/S (CPH:VWS), Electrix and Transpower to restart the construction at an “appropriate time.”

(NZD 1.0 = USD 0.585/EUR 0.541)

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