The Taupō District Council has granted Todd Generation a land use consent to construct a solar farm on a 1022-hectare property at Rangitāiki, southeast of Taupō, following a hearing in September.
The property was being used as a dairy farm, milking 2600 cows and once finished, will see 900,000 ground-mounted solar panels arranged across the site, 98 centralised inverters and a switchyard near the south side of the transmission lines.
Construction will take place in three stages with stage one taking place in the last quarter of 2022, with all three stages to be completed and the solar farm operational by the last quarter of 2027.
The plant will eventually generate renewable electricity to power 100,000 homes.
Hearings commissioner Bill Wasley released his decision on November 4.
In making his decision, he said he considered several factors including its impact on rural character, amenity and landscape, land productivity, reverse sensitivity, cultural and historical values, safety, end of life disposal/land contamination and soil disturbance.
Wasley said while he acknowledged that given its scale there would be a significant change to the existing character of the site, he concluded any adverse effects on existing rural character and amenity are acceptable and have been mitigated as far as practicable.
He also said the proposal would not have any adverse impacts on landscape values and the adverse landscape and visual effects during the earthworks/construction phases of the project would be minimal.
“There will however be moderate-adverse visual effects on the wider area from the scale of change in relation to the existing open, pastoral farm character to a landscape of energy infrastructure due to the large scale of the proposed solar project.”
Wasley said he believed the effects of the loss of rural production would be minimal.
“This is due to the positive effects of the proposal in terms of renewable energy electricity generation, which there is very clear government policy direction supporting renewable energy generation; that the reduction in dairying in the New Zealand is minimal; there are alternative rural land use activities proposed in conjunction with the solar generation activities, and provision of employment opportunities both in construction and operation of the proposal.”
Traffic effects, reverse sensitivity, tangata whenua/cultural and historical values, land contamination and soil disturbance impacts were all judged to be minor by Wasley.
He considered the proposal will have a range of positive effects. Given it is a renewable energy development, it will maximise low-emissions electricity generation from the available solar resource.
“It will also contribute to increasing the energy supply from such sources to support resilience within the national grid, creating sufficient electricity to power approximately 100,000 homes annually,” he said.
The change in land use will remove significant numbers of cattle from the Rangitāiki catchment, therefore providing the opportunity to improve water quality through the restoration and revegetation of riparian habitats such as those along the Otamatea River and associated streams and improve the indigenous biodiversity habitat.
“In addition, the proposal will contribute to the social and economic wellbeing of the general community through the provision of renewable energy and create economic and employment activity during both construction and operation, to support general growth locally and from a national perspective.”
In his conclusion, Wasley said he considered the most adverse effects of the proposal can be remedied, mitigated, or avoided particularly with the imposition of the consent conditions agreed between the council, applicant, Waka Kotahi, and Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
“It is acknowledged that there will be moderate adverse effects in regarding rural character and visual impact, but I consider these to be acceptable in this particular instance,” he said.
