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Officials, including Energy Secretary Simeon Brown, center, held a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of construction of the solar farm.
photo: Anna Sargent
Work has begun on a $300 million solar farm near Christchurch Airport.
Officials, including Energy Secretary Simeon Brown, held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday morning to mark the milestone.
this The airport is partnering with Contact Energy and international solar developer Lightsource bp to develop a solar farmcovers an area of 230 hectares and is located directly in front of the runway.
It will house approximately 300,000 solar panels and is expected to generate enough renewable energy to power nearly 36,000 homes.
Contact Energy CEO Mike Fuge said once completed, the farm will have a generating capacity of 162 megawatts, making it the country’s largest solar farm.
“This is a big day for us because this is a new technology for us entering the solar energy space.
“The whole project is about $300 million. It’s a huge investment, and we have a lot of banking partners as well.”
Christchurch Airport chief executive Justin Watson said the solar farm would provide a large amount of green energy to help the aviation industry move away from its reliance on fossil fuels.
“Ultimately, aviation needs to decarbonize.
“No one knows what form it will take – whether it will be electricity, hydrogen or sustainable aviation fuel – but what people do know is that you are going to need a lot of green energy.
“So for us to provide that service here, when the technology catches up, we’ll be able to generate it on site.
“We currently use about 8MW at peak usage. We forecast that by 2040, if we transition aircraft to the next generation (using renewable fuels), we will need about 140MW… So we believe that if we were to electrify or transition to hydrogen, we would have enough solar farms to provide those energy sources for aviation.”
Watson said the solar panels are designed to observe sunlight rather than reflect it, so they will not cause interference to aircraft landing at the airport.
The solar farm is Airport Renewable Energy Project Kōwhai Park.
The park sits between the Orion line network and the Transpower national grid pylons that supply electricity to the city.
Energy Minister Simeon Brown said the solar farm was a major investment in renewable energy for Christchurch, one he wanted to see replicated across the country.
this The coalition government this week announced a multi-pronged plan to tackle what it calls an energy security crisisincluding a review of the electricity market.
“By 2050, we need to double the amount of renewable energy New Zealand needs over the next 25 years.
“That’s what our plan is about and that’s the framework we announced yesterday; how can we build energy faster, easier and cheaper in New Zealand, whether it’s wind, solar geothermal or hydro?
“Fast Track Consent will all play a key role in achieving this goal,” Brown said.
“I think the message we’re sending to the energy sector is that we need more investment and we want to see more investment across the country.”
The government also announced plans to pass legislation by the end of the year. Lifting the ban on oil and gas exploration Remove regulatory barriers to the construction of liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facilities.
Construction of the solar farm is expected to take 18 months to two years.
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