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The Environment Court last month granted Meridian Energy final consent to build a multi-million dollar solar farm at Ruakākā.
The Ruakaka Energy Park at Marsden Point consists of a 100-megawatt energy storage system (BESS) and the proposed 120-megawatt solar farm.
Construction of the BESS, which will share energy with the national grid, started in 2023 and commissioning is underway.
It has a storage capacity of 200MWh, which means its maximum output – enough to power around 60,000 average households during winter – can be sustained for two hours. It will be connected directly to Transpower’s Bream Bay substation at 33kV.
The solar farm will consist of 250,000 panels across 163 hectares and will be capable of producing 230 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity a year, enough to power more than half the homes in Northland, a Meridan spokesperson said.
Construction is expected to start around the middle of this year.
“With these two assets working together, we’ll be generating energy from Te Tai Tokerau’s fabulous sunshine through the solar farm, and storing energy in the BESS for whenever it’s needed by homes and businesses,” a spokesperson said.
“The farm will also boost the region’s resilience by reducing its reliance on electricity generated from elsewhere in the country, so it’s exciting news for the region and NZ’s electricity generation in general.”
Kaipara sunshine will also be harnessed for a $40 million, 21MW solar farm currently under construction along Gorge Road, Maungatūroto.
Named ‘Papareireiā’ in reference to the solar rays being consumed by the whenua (land), the farm is a joint venture between Tupu Tonu (the Ngāpuhi Investment Fund), Purpose Capital and Harbour Infrastructure.
Although estimated to generate enough power for 4000 homes, the farm’s 32 GWh of annual energy will have only one recipient – the retirement village business Ryman Healthcare, which owns 40 complexes nationwide. Ryman signed an exclusive 10-year contract with Mercury Energy in 2023.
In west Kaipara, NZ electricity generation company Lodestone Energy has consent to build a 97,000-panelled solar farm over 95 hectares on Station Road, Dargaville. Construction is planned to start in the next two years and once completed will generate 52.15MW, enough power for 10,700 households.
