Another huge solar farm in the works for Canterbury

Friday, 10 February 2023

Three solar farms in Canterbury could provide enough power for about 80,000 homes.

A third large solar power plant capable of powering tens of thousands of homes may be on the cards in Canterbury, in addition to two other developments that took a step forward earlier this week.

Selwyn District Council documents show privately-owned company Keax has applied for resource consent for a solar power plant at Brookside Farm, about 10km north of Leeston, west of Christchurch.

The documents indicated the solar farm would comprise just over 303,000 solar panels on a 258 hectare site and would be capable of producing 160 megawatts of electricity.

A resource consent hearing is scheduled for February 23.

* $100m 'world-leading' solar plant will be 50 times bigger than any in New Zealand

Genesis' promotional video for its Lauriston solar farm.

Contact Energy and Christchurch Airport separately announced on Thursday that they would build what they said would be one of “the country largest solar farms” on a 300 hectare site adjacent to the airport.

They said the power plant, which has been discussed by the airport for a few years, would also comprise about 300,000 solar panels with a rated capacity of 150MW, and would generate 290 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of power per year, or enough to power 36,000 homes.

Genesis Energy announced on Tuesday that it had given the go-ahead for a somewhat smaller 80,000-panel solar farm near Lauriston on the Canterbury Plains, an hour’s drive south of Christchurch, that would cost $70 million to build and would be able to generate 80GWh of power a year.

Keax’ resource consent documents indicated that its solar farm would be built in three stages, over three years, with construction starting imminently.

But Keax director Campbell McMath said that he didn’t want to comment at this stage as it was not quite ready to talk about the project.

Selwyn Council documents show several landowners near the farm had supported the proposed solar farm but that some had lodged objections.

One nearby resident said there were some concerns among the local community about the risk of glare from the solar panels and a humming from its inverters and transformers.

A report from Veldan Aviation Consulting said the planting of some additional vegetation around the site should address any concerns over glare, and a study by Marshall Day Acoustics said noise and vibration could be kept minimal.