The sod turning ceremony for the new solar farm in Canterbury. Photo: RNZ / Anna Sargent
Construction has begun on a $104 million solar farm on the Canterbury Plains, with power set to start flowing by the end of this year.
Genesis Energy and joint venture partner FRV Australia are building on a 93-hectare site at Lauriston, about an hour south of Christchurch.
The solar farm would hold about 90,000 solar panels, and was expected to generate enough renewable energy to power close to 13,000 homes.
The bare area where in Canterbury where the solar farm will be built. Photo: RNZ / Anna Sargent
Once completed, the 63 megawatt (MW) farm would be the largest in the country, Genesis said.
The joint venture also signed a 10-year power purchase agreement with Genesis Energy which would take all the renewable energy from the site.
Officials marked the construction milestone with a sod turning ceremony on Tuesday afternoon.
Genesis chief executive Malcolm Johns. Photo: RNZ / Anna Sargent
Genesis chief executive Malcolm Johns said this was the first 63 MW of the 500 MW of solar power the company planned to build across New Zealand over the next five years.
"It's great to be building it here in mid-Canterbury. Canterbury is naturally endowed with sunshine, the mountains keep the weather on the western side and the sun on the eastern side, so it's what we hope will be the first of a number of developments in this area," he said.
"By 2050 New Zealand has to have 60 percent of all of its energy coming from electricity, 95 percent of that needs to be renewable, and it needs to be available 100 percent of the time, so solar is going to play a critical role."
Genesis said the solar farm was expected to create more than 50 jobs during construction, and employ up to three full-time staff when operational.
A $104 million solar farm on the Canterbury Plains will have about 90,000 solar panels when it is completed. Photo: Supplied / Genesis Energy
Johns said sheep farming would still be able to continue at the solar farm site.
"We lease the land to put the solar panels on and the farmer is still free to continue to basically graze sheep among the solar panels. You can still fence paddocks and you can still put sheep in amongst them," he said.
"It improves the productivity for the land owner, you have duel income streams coming off it - you've got your traditional agricultural income stream and now you have a renewable energy income stream on top of it."
Ashburton District mayor Neil Brown. Photo: RNZ / Anna Sargent
Ashburton District mayor Neil Brown said it was a big day for Ashburton.
"Turning the first sod here today, it has been a long time waiting for this to happen. To get renewable energy from solar in Ashburton is really exciting for us, and the farm owner here," he said.
"We have a good network to deliver the power to the substations and then deliver to the houses, so it's the perfect spot for it."
