Located 30km north-east of Gisborne, the Mokairau wind farm is forecast to generate around 27 gigawatt-hours of electricity per annum.

On a daily basis this could provide up to a quarter of the Gisborne region's current peak load electricity requirements and meet 12.5% of current total consumption in the Wairoa and Gisborne districts.

“The business is delighted with the successful outcome of our tender,” said Matt Todd, chief executive of Eastland Infrastructure, the management provider for Eastland Network.

“The units will assist greatly in the realisation of this important project. We believe its development will benefit our electricity consumers, as well as enhancing our long term strategic commitment to the region’s environment, economic growth and community”.

New Zealand was recently named the most attractive country for this sort of business-friendly Kyoto initiative by Norway-headquartered independent carbon emission market analyst Point Carbon.

International interest in emissions trading is growing with the Dutch and Austrian governments looking to enter trading arrangements with NZ firms for units awarded under the program.

The 80,000 internationally tradable emission units awarded to the project could net Eastland $1.2m if sold at the prevailing international price of around $15.