Sixty-six wind turbines will be built at Makara as part of Meridian Energy's West Wind project.
The site will generate enough electricity to supply most households in the Greater Wellington region.
Greenpeace Climate Campaigner Vanessa Atkinson said the decision brought New Zealand one step closer to a clean energy future.
"This was just the kind of project New Zealand needs to reduce its skyrocketing emissions and eventually achieve a 100 per cent switch to renewable energy.
"Zealand has an abundant wind resource and utilising it together with other renewable energy sources and with increasing energy efficiency means we can stop depending on dwindling and dirty supplies of fossil fuels.
"Renewable energy is a safe, simple and obvious key part of the solution to climate change"
"Project West Wind effectively avoids pumping out a half million tonnes of CO2 annually, and emissions reductions from the project will save New Zealand up to $26 million in avoiding the purchase of emissions reductions under the Kyoto Protocol (1).
"This is a great example of the Resource Management Act doing its job in assessing the local impacts and the contribution that renewable energy projects can make to tackling climate change - the greatest challenge facing the planet.
Ms Atkinson said renewable energy sources such as wind were a key plank in Greenpeace's New Zealand Energy Revolution: How to prevent climate chaos report, which was developed last year by local and international experts.
The report sets out a pathway for a secure and environmentally sustainable New Zealand energy system, and concludes we can achieve a 100% renewable electricity supply by 2025.
