Solar farm shadow falls over Wellsford

Residents living just west of Wellsford, around Prictor, Clague and Port Albert Roads, have been stunned to learn that they may soon be living next to a mega solar farm.

Energy Farms hopes to lodge a resource consent with Auckland Council this month to build a 76MW solar energy farm in Prictor Road, west of Wellsford. This will involve installing more than 182,000 sun-tracking solar panels over more than 260 hectares of farmland.

The company says this will generate 162,000 MWh of energy annually, enough to power 23,172 houses for a year. The site is just three kilometres from the Wellsf...