The pause of the Slopedown wind farm application, which was accepted by the Environmental Protection Authority panel, would allow comments from groups and individuals to be addressed and responded to, Contact said.
Feedback was published this week and included an immediate response from Contact requesting the consent process be paused so it could "address some of the matters raised and where necessary, work through issues with commenters".
Head of wind and solar Matthew Cleland said Contact would take time to consider feedback.
"We expect the pause to be a month or so, and we’ll use this time to consider the comments and respond appropriately," he said.
"It’s not unusual to pause the process for a project of this nature and allows us time to provide fulsome responses."
In total, 19 groups and individuals provided feedback on the proposal, many concerned about the potential amenity and environmental impacts of the facility in a remote rural location.
Contact said some of the comments raised concerns it could now address and explain with more clarity.
Mr Cleland said it was still committed to the proposed wind farm project.
"We see it as an important renewable energy project for Southland and New Zealand."
The proposed $1 billion wind farm would cover 5500ha and have up to 55 turbines, potentially producing enough power for 150,000 homes.
Environment Southland (ES) said it remained supportive of such projects in general.
"ES remains supportive in principle of the development of further renewable energy resources in the Southland region."
It acknowledged the "potential socio-economic benefits" of the project to the region, but raised concerns effects of construction should be properly mitigated, alongside habitat removal.
"The proposal includes the direct loss of 2.86ha of wetland and additional indirect effects on the larger wetland complexes as well as the forest ecosystems."
