The past few months has seen an uptick in chatter around solar farm construction across the country and Palmerston North is next on the list.
Kiwi Solar Farms Ltd recently unveiled plans to construct a solar farm using 45,000 solar panels on a 45-hectare site near Kairanga-Bunnythorpe Road, which could generate enough electricity for about 5000 homes.
The energy company’s project development director Andrew Beckett says the proposed Manawatū -based solar farm is “the first of many upcoming sites”.
“We need significant investment in new power generation to meet our decarbonisation targets and solar PV is the solution. It’s modular, can be developed and constructed quickly and is cost effective,” Beckett said.
“We feel proud to have brought a bunch of nebulous ideas during lockdown to a real project and proud to be part of Aotearoa NZ’s decarbonisation journey.”
In 2014, Palmerston North district installed a smaller-scale solar farm on the roof of the civic administration building and Convention Centre, with 400 panels generating 100kW.
Beckett says Kiwi Solar Farms’ solar panels could produce up to 28 megawatts of power at peak times.
The company is currently seeking consent from the Palmerston North City Council.
Meanwhile, Harmony Energy was recently granted a resource consent to build a solar farm at Te Aroha West in the Hauraki Plains.
The project will establish and operate a 182ha solar farm, housing about 330,000 monocrystalline solar panels that will supply electricity to the national grid, powering 30,000 homes.
Plans are also underway to establish a large-scale solar farm on a 1022ha site southeast of Taupō.
