Huge solar farm approval in doubt after grave warning on rare birds

Saturday, 4 July 2026

Approval for one of the country’s largest proposed solar farms is in serious doubt after a fast-track panel warned it could pose too great a risk to some of New Zealand’s rarest birds.

Auckand-based Far North Solar Farm (FNSF) wants to build The Point, a 450MW solar farm near Twizel, on land close to some of the country’s most sensitive bird habitat.

The application is being considered under the Fast-track Approvals process. Since the panel was convened in December, the application has been paused twice at the company’s request.

The latest pause was granted with a stark warning from the panel, chaired by former judge Raynor Asher: the project’s ecological risks remained “unacceptably high” and its proposed safeguards were “notably deficient”.

At the centre of the concern is kākī, or black stilt, one of the world’s rarest wading birds. Fewer than 200 adult birds survive in the wild, including about 40 breeding pairs, all in the Mackenzie Basin. The Department of Conservation’s (DOC) breeding centre for the species is near the proposed site.

DOC experts have raised concerns about the risk of birds crashing into the panels. Some international evidence suggests birds can mistake large banks of solar panels for water and fly into them. For a species this rare, even one death could matter.

The panel said FNSF had failed to provide key evidence on several issues, including crash risk and the possible effect on bird populations. It warned the project could “contribute to regional or national population decline of nationally threatened birds”.

It has not closed the door on the solar farm. But it said the company would need to either challenge those concerns with better evidence or offer much stronger protections.

Forest & Bird and the Environmental Defence Society opposed the application on ecological grounds. Mana whenua, in their submissions, criticised the company for what they saw as a lack of serious engagement.

Supporters have emphasised the need for more renewable energy, and see the Mackenzie Basin as an ideal source.

But the project is also facing questions over FNSF’s financial position.

FNSF formed a joint venture in 2022 with Aquila Capital, a German-headquartered investment manager. Together, they developed a pipeline of about 10 solar farms.

The companies parted ways in January, with Aquila taking full ownership of five projects, most of them well advanced. FNSF was left with some of the largest and least developed projects in the pipeline.

More recently, Newsroom reported Crown agency New Zealand Green Investment Finance (NZGIF) had refused to hand over $78 million it had pledged to invest in FNSF’s projects. The reasons have not been disclosed.

Richard Homewood, co-founder and spokesperson for FNSF, told The Press he could not comment extensively while the application was ongoing but said the company had progressed the The Point “diligently and with substantial resources over several years”.

“We remain fully committed to the project and confident that it can be consented.”

On kakī and other threatened species, Homewood said the company had engaged early and collaboratively with DOC and he was confident that the measures proposed “will deliver net positive gains for these species”.

A neighbour's different outcome

The bird concerns, first reported by The Press in 2024, have hung over several solar proposals in the Mackenzie Basin.

At least nine large solar farms are in different stages of development in the area, where pressure for new energy projects is colliding with long-running concerns about protecting rare wildlife and dryland landscapes.

Kākī are not the only species at issue. More than a dozen other threatened birds use the area, including endangered terns. The basin is also home to rare lizards, invertebrates and plants, some of them critically endangered.

Those risks have not stopped every solar proposal. A neighbouring solar farm, led by Lodestone Energy, received draft approval from a fast-track panel last week, subject to conditions.

The smaller project, on Haldon Arm Station beside Lake Benmore, would involve about 360,000 panels. It also faced serious questions over the risk of birds striking the panels, and the panel was sharply critical of the company’s original ecological assessment.

But Lodestone substantially strengthened its proposal. It agreed to a fixed, upfront $1m payment to DOC for kākī recovery, a roughly 180-hectare compensation area secured for nature conservation, a mammalian predator-exclusion fence, bird-strike monitoring, plant surveys, and long-term ecological research.

The panel accepted there would still be ecological harm and uncertainty. But it found the strengthened package brought the remaining effects to a level that was not out of proportion to the project’s renewable energy benefits.

The Point has not yet reached that stage. The panel considering FNSF’s application has warned its current evidence and safeguards remain inadequate, and that its concerns are grave enough that it is considering declining the application.

Other projects under pressure

The Point is not the only FNSF application facing difficulties.

Another large solar farm proposal, in Waipara, was due to be decided last month but has been delayed.

It has attracted strong local opposition, including over the apparent destruction of what had been described as the finest stand of matagouri in New Zealand. The plants were reportedly cleared by the landowner in 2024.

FNSF denied any knowledge of the clearance, though a hearing commissioner later noted the solar farm would likely have required the plants to be removed regardless.

The latest delay came after a local opponent pointed out that an engineering company behind a fire-risk report submitted to the hearing had the same directors as FNSF.

The hearing panel agreed there was a conflict, calling it an “unfortunate situation” that called into question the independence and reliability of the report.