Harapaki Windfarm

Wind Farms by their nature are often located in very remote locations, which requires access tracks to be built during the construction process. On completion of the construction process, one of the final parts of the project is to reinstate access tracks and disturbed ground back to full vegetation. These areas range in lengths and gradients, meaning they can provide a real challenge to revegetate. With very steep slopes, and ground that was lacking in organic matter, nutrients and biological activity which is essential to sustainable vegetative establishment, and no option to top soil the areas, our client was faced with a difficult situation

New Zealand's second largest windfarm.

Covering 1,235 hectares at altitudes of 730m to 1,100m.

A greenfield project with over 1.2 million m3 of earthworks over three seasons.

Our scope was to progressively stabilize and revegetate earthworks areas throughout the project.

In total we completed 110 ha of Stabi-Mulch

Stabi-Mulch 

• Application rate 2500-3500kg/ha dependent on site specifics, slope gradient etc

• A mix of Pasture seed blend, winter active species to encourage growth in the winter periods

• Starter Fertilizer

• Polymer to provide further temporary stabilisation
   

Soil Blanket

• Application rate: 3000 kg/ha on cut faces with little or no organic matter

• Added organic matter, mycorrhizae fungi, and soil biology to encourage long-term growth

• Resulted in root structures up to 30 cm deep
   

Dust Loc

• To stop dust from haul roads, increase visibility and reduce the cost of water cart hireage

• ~150,000 litres applied on haul roads

• Provided 3–6 months dust suppression per application

• Extreme weather: snow, thunderstorms, and winds reaching 200 kph.

• High elevation: soil temps dropped below 6°C, requiring winter-active species to achieve strike.

• Steep slopes & access: required Marooka tracked machines and hose runs of up to 200 m to reach inaccessible areas.

• Tight timeframes: necessitated high-output equipment and close coordination with project managers

• Successfully stabilized over 1.1 million m² of earthworks.

• No major erosion or sediment failures reported.

• Soil Blanket application produced strong vegetative cover even under harsh conditions.

• Dust-Loc significantly cut operating costs and improved traffic safety.