Wind farm developer BlueFloat Energy pulled out of New Zealand last year, citing "key uncertainties".
Energy giant Jera Nex BP has added its voice in opposing Trans-Tasman Resources’ plan to mine the seabed off the Taranaki coast, saying it could stop the offshore wind power industry from getting off the ground in New Zealand.
The company is a joint venture between Japan’s top power generator Jera (which stands for Japan’s Energy for a New Era) and BP.
In August, it absorbed Parkwind, the company looking to develop a large-scale Taranaki offshore wind farm.
Early this month, London-headquartered Jera Nex BP lodged its opposition to Trans-Tasman Resources’ application for marine consents under the Fast-Track Approvals Act to mine the seabed in the Taranaki Bight.
The Taranaki Offshore Partnership – a joint venture between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, which is investigating a wind farm in the South Taranaki Bight – has also registered its opposition.
Last year, offshore wind developer BlueFloat Energy pulled out of New Zealand, citing “key uncertainties” about how the market will progress.
A decision on Trans-Tasman Resources’ fast-track application from a Government-appointed expert panel is due on March 18, 2026.
Trans-Tasman Resources wants to extract about 50 million* tonnes of seabed material a year for 20 years, from which it expects to recover up to about five tonnes of vanadium-rich titanomagnetite concentrate (VTM), which is used in the steel-making process.
The application covers an area of 65.76km located between 22km and 36km off the Taranaki coast.
A report from NZIER released in February said the Taranaki VTM Project would contribute around $763 million in annual export earnings, $246m to GDP each year, and over 1,300 jobs – 83% of them regional.
Crown revenue is estimated at $36–53m in royalties and $91–134m in company tax annually, the report said.
Jera Nex BP, in its submission to the fast-track panel, said the economic benefits from the mining proposal were not regionally or nationally significant “and in any event are outweighed by the adverse impacts”.
Seabed mining would likely lead to the loss of the nascent offshore wind industry for New Zealand, the company said.
“Critically, we believe the adverse impacts of the Taranaki VTM project cannot be corrected by modifying the application, and nor can they be avoided, remedied, mitigated, offset or otherwise compensated for by way of conditions of consent,” it said.
Jera Nex BP wants to build a 500-megawatt (MW) to 1 gigawatt (GW) offshore windfarm in New Zealand, which it plans to be operational by mid-2030.
The company said approval of a seabed mining project in the region could fundamentally jeopardise any investment in New Zealand’s emerging offshore wind industry.
Seabed mining does not co-exist with offshore wind anywhere else in the world, it added.
Wind-power developers see South Taranaki as being ideal as it has a world-class wind resource, relatively shallow water depths and favourable seabed conditions for building foundations.
Over the past three years, Jera Nex BP – though Parkwind – had been investigating the development of a large-scale wind farm off the coast of South Taranaki.
If delivered, it would become one of New Zealand’s largest power stations, it said.
“Our proposed 1GW project would generate a mean annual output of 4620GWh [gigawatt hours], similar to Manapōuri, more than double the Clyde Dam (2160GWh) and more than all existing onshore wind farms combined in 2024 (3920GWh).”
Opponents of the mining project said it would significantly disrupt the seabed floor, up to a depth of 11m.
Offshore wind turbines and electrical cables could not be constructed in the same location as an active seabed mining operation, resulting in the unavailability of that zone for offshore wind generation, Jera Nex BP said.
“This means that the best zone in the country (due to the high wind speed and shallow waters) is unavailable for development.”
Jera Nex BP, with offices globally and about 700 employees, is one of the world’s largest offshore wind companies.
In the US, the company said it planned to halt development of the US Beacon offshore wind power project and lay off its US employees in the coming months.
The decision marks the latest setback for the US offshore wind industry, which has faced higher costs and the impact of US President Donald Trump’s opposition to such projects, news agency Reuters reported.
*An earlier version of the story missed out the word million
Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets, the primary sector and energy. He joined the Herald in 2011.