Contact Energy has been granted a 12-month delay on hearings into its planned 180-turbine windfarm near Raglan.
The power company asked the Board of Inquiry to adjourn the process so it could carry out more research and site work on Waikato's west coast.
The previous Labour-led government called in Contact's proposed windfarm, to help speed up the project's development at a time when the Crown had the goal of 90% of energy being generated from renewable sources.
Contact argued it needed more time so it could undertake more engineering work and research on the movements of shorebirds.
