Solar power farming

[As published in September/October BayBuzz magazine.]

Research solar power farming, as I have been doing for the last few weeks, to get a grip on Hawke’s Bay’s embrace of solar, and you’ll soon hear the famous inventor Thomas Edison’s quote from the 1880s. 

“We are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when we should be using nature’s inexhaustible sources of energy — sun, wind and tide … I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power!”

Edison would be pleased to hear solar power is now the world’s fastest-growing source of energy. According to the Economist in June 2024, solar currently provides 6% of the world’s electricity but, by the mid-2030s, solar cells will probably be the planet’s single biggest source of electricity. 

At the same time, the world’s electricity needs are growing exponentially. Depending on who you talk to, New Zealand could need up to 120% more power generation than it has now, by 2050.

Solar energy at scale has taken off around the globe with huge solar farms in places like India, China and Egypt, as well as smaller ones in the European Union and the US. Everything from vegetable greenhouses, to berry orchards, salad plots and vineyards, and even to underwater shrimp farming in China is being grown successfully underneath photo-voltaic panels overseas. 

New Zealand, by comparison, has been slower to embrace solar farming. 

An 80 hectare farm Kohirā, in Kaitaia, with a flock of 170 sheep grazing beneath solar panels, was the first to begin successfully providing power to the NZ electricity market in February 2024. Meanwhile Lincoln University only recently announced plans to construct a four-hectare solar farm to explore how productive land could be optimised for high-value horticulture cropping while generating commercial-scale solar energy.

Nevertheless, NZ power-grid operator Transpower says there are 10,500MW of solar projects currently in their connection pipeline, and at different stages of the application process. That’s slightly more than the 10,000MW of already installed capacity of all generation types in NZ. About 140,000 hectares of our land could go into solar farms in the next few years. 

Hawke’s Bay

In Hawke’s Bay the hot spot for solar farm development is Ongaonga, where key ingredients are making the area a very attractive option. It has high sunshine hours, (one estimate puts that at 1,700 bright sunshine hours per year), limited shading from adjacent mountains, lower grade soils that aren’t irrigated. And importantly, land that is close to a substation to transport power to the National Grid. In Ongaonga’s case the nearby Waipawa Substation is just south of the township on Ongaonga Road. 

Currently two big solar farms, spanning a total of nearly 400 hectares, are in process for Ongaonga. One of these is Auckland-based SkySolar Limited’s consented 152 hectare solar farm directly adjacent to the Waipawa sub-station. This is predicted to produce enough electricity to power 18,000 houses per annum, but the project has stalled with a major shareholder in liquidation. Cameron King, director of commercial projects and sales, told BayBuzz the company is now awaiting “final settlement with another international investor” … “and then the solar farm will proceed”. 

SkySolar has had a presence in Ongaonga since 2019 when it installed an 80m long array of 160 solar panels on Fairfield Station, and then worked with another Ongaonga farmer on Wakarara Road to put in a 918-panel array. 

By far the largest solar farm planned for Ongaonga, and indeed Hawke’s Bay, is a $150 million, 240 hectare farm being developed by Helios Energy Limited, an NZ company with international backing.

The Helios farm, incorporating an estimated 240,000 solar panels, is to be located 1.8 kms from the Waipawa substation. It aims to produce 100 megawatts of energy that will power 29,000 homes annually. The company has a resource consent lodged with CHB District Council, and if all goes to plan, the farm will be operating by the end of 2026.

To find out more about solar farming, I honed in on Helios, who provides a very good model of a solar farm on its website.

Helios was founded in 2020 by two Hillary Fellows, Jeff Schlichting and Tim Derrick, who’ve both had long careers in renewable energy in the US. They are among some 500 global entrepreneurs and investors chosen by the Edmund Hillary Foundation (EHF) “to incubate global solutions in Aotearoa New Zealand”.

As well as Ongaonga, Helios has consent for a 207 hectare farm in Edgecumbe and is waiting on consent for a 660 hectare farm in the Maniototo. Another 190 hectare farm in Greytown, in the Wairarapa, is in the early planning stages.

“We’re looking at producing about 1,000+ megawatts of solar generating capacity across the country or ten times the size of the project we’re proposing at Ongaonga,” says managing director Jeff Schlichting. “That would translate to powering roughly 250,000 homes per year.” 

Schlichting, on Zoom from Auckland along with the company’s Senior Environmental Planner Sarah Brooks, describes a solar farm as a bit like our artery system. “You have the individual panels that absorb energy from the sun and deliver electricity to inverters which convert the DC power into AC, and then this AC electricity goes to a site substation. Consider this the heart of the arterial system.”

The solar farm substation then dispatches the AC power via a transmission line to Transpower’s Waipawa substation – “call this the brain,” says Schlichting.

The Waipawa sub-station currently has two key Grid Injection Points. One delivers power north and east into Hawke’s Bay, which Helios has an application to connect into. The other delivers power south into the Wairarapa, which SkySolar has an application to connect into.

Transpower operates its National Grid as an “open” access system. “This means we will connect any new generation where the developer demonstrates their project is viable, has the potential to be consented, and they have an understanding of how the project is likely to operate within the wholesale electricity market,” says a Transpower spokesperson. 

A solar farm gets paid at a wholesale rate for the amount of electricity it sends to the Grid. (The wholesale market is where generators sell electricity and retailers buy. Retailers then onsell that electricity to businesses and households across New Zealand.) 

Like most solar farms, the Helios Ongaonga solar farm will also incorporate a large battery energy storage system. 

“Battery storage plays a role in providing resilience for the Grid,” says Schlichting. “Obviously solar power generated is higher in the midday summer. We refer to solar energy as ‘virtual rain’ as it’s during those hours that you can slow the hydro-electricity output, keep the water behind the dam, and send that through during the evening or overnight during periods when the sun isn’t shining at all. 

“Just because it’s cloudy it doesn’t mean there isn’t any solar production,” he adds. “The panels simply operate at a lower efficiency.”

Solar farms generally seem to have a life expectancy of 35 years and according to Helios, the panels can then be 100% recycled as e-waste in NZ.

The big question though, is will they make our power cheaper? 

“Yes,” says Schlichting. “By generating more renewable energy at low cost, it will democratise access to that electricity and bring the cost down. Solar power on the grid is displacing thermal and higher cost hydro at peak periods. The end result of that is the price should come down for everyone.

Schlichting and co-founding partner Tim Derrick say with a decline in the cost of solar components and installation costs, and an increase in long-term reliability and efficiency of solar farms, solar energy is a no-brainer.

Farmer perspective

Ongaonga farmer Duncan Holden agrees.

Holden is one of three Ongaonga farmers who are working with Helios to lease part of their land for a 35 year period.

“We are all farming on lighter soils with Class 4 and 5 soil types,” says Holden. “With no access to irrigation, this land grows stuff-all.” 

I meet Holden in Ongaonga and walk with him over stoney soils, which are part of the old Tukituki riverbed. The Tukituki is now set in its flow path, protected by a stop bank. Currently Holden grazes sheep and cattle with some cropping on the better soils. 

“Solar has the potential for us to look at intergenerational farming businesses because of the lease term. It promises a greater return than what we are currently getting and we can farm the land with sheep.”

Holden says once the solar panels are in place, because of the shading, there is potential for the land to retain soil moisture and grow more grass. There is also the potential for inter-row cropping and he is watching the Lincoln University research with interest.

The proposed solar farm is 600 to 800 metres away from any road or neighbour. “The Tukituki River is our longest neighbour and Helios will be planting around the boundary with native species.

“We’ll manage the pasture and add value to land that we could add very little to otherwise. 

“This is also a great opportunity to help eliminate the fire risk. 

“The sheep will be happy campers under the panels.” 

Helios and SkySolar have engaged with mana whenua, other stakeholders and the Ongaonga community. Helios held an open-day in the town late last year and is setting up a Community Trust Model made up of representatives from Helios, mana whenua, council and the local community. Once their solar farm is underway, the Trust will receive funds on an annual basis to distribute to the benefit of the local community in key areas like education, sustainability and energy hardship.

Central Hawke’s Bay District’s Mayor Alex Walker says renewable energy generation is an important investment for her region’s future land-use diversification and resilience. “Our GDP and economy have been very reliant on fibre and meat production. We need different land uses and solar farming is definitely one of them.”

She says the district will benefit from employment opportunities early in the construction phase, as well as wider economic benefits gained by the region becoming a net electricity producer. “For example, Ōtāne has a very good pilot seed-drying facility and wants to expand, but it is very energy intensive. Having this energy production on our door step will definitely help new industry. It will also strengthen local resilience in a disaster on the scale of Cyclone Gabrielle.

“Ideally we would love to see local and regional investments for most economic impact, but currently the interest is dominated by large internationally-backed companies.”

The Mayor has met with the community and says there are still some concerns to iron out “as this is very new technology for our community to understand. 

“The local community is rightly worried about things like fire risk from the farms, heat radiation and waste when they are de-commissioned. The providers have answers to all this, but I think we need an independent eye at government level regulating these concerns and any other flow-on ramifications from solar farming. The solar boom is happening right across the country, but we don’t want to boom and bust.”

Hawke’s Bay Airport

Hawke’s Bay Airport, in partnership with Manawa Energy, plans to develop a large-scale solar PV installation “airside” that will eventually power the airport, and contribute to local electricity needs. However, Business Development Manager Judi Goldbold says the project is still in the feasibility studies phase. 

“When assessments and studies are complete, the project partners will be able to share more information, including an updated development timeline.”

HB power provider Unison is working with the Airport to help them understand the cost and feasibility of connecting to its distribution network. 

Jason Larkin, Unison General Manager Commercial & Regulation and for Centralines, (CHB), says, “As electricity distribution businesses, Unison and Centralines offer connection services for small-to medium scale solar projects ranging from roof top solar to solar farms that are not large enough to connect directly to the National Grid. We are enabling renewable generation as part of decarbonising NZ.” 

Power to the People, a proposal first muted in 2018 to develop a multi-million dollar solar farm powering 400 low-income Flaxmere households is rumoured to still be on the cards, but BayBuzz couldn’t confirm this. 

In the meantime Flaxmere College students have conceived and fundraised for a solar project to provide for the school’s electricity needs. The first phase is installed and eventually the system will provide power to the surrounding neighbourhood. For more on this see this BayBuzz video.

Community resilience

A lot of smaller scale solar energy projects are firing across Hawke’s Bay. These will play a vital role in our communities’ future resilience. 

As I write, MBIE’s (Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment ) Community Renewable Energy Fund, managed in Hawke’s Bay by Senior Policy Advisor Chris Lambourne, is supporting a major deployment of solar panels and massive battery systems, to the tune of as much as $100,000 each, to community hubs across the region so they can effectively function in a disaster.

When BayBuzz caught up with one provider, Freenergy Solar Solutions, owner Aaron Duncan and his team were installing 40 solar panels on the roof of the Hastings Sports Centre (HSC), and about to start work at Waiohiki Marae.

“The panels on HSC will produce about 20,000 kilowatts per year and support the centre’s day-to-day power use,” explains Duncan. “They will also charge a massive battery system, which the centre can run off if the mains power is cut.” 

Freenergy Solar Solutions is involved in the design and installation of solar and battery systems at seven different locations. “All of these systems have been designed specific to the site requirements to provide reliable long term resilience with solar and battery backup.

“In the event of a short or long term power outage, the system will deliver power for essential services such as lighting, cooking and communications.” 

Solar leader

Hawke’s Bay is a solar leader with the first private peer-to-peer solar energy network of its kind in New Zealand. Te Rehe Solar Network (TRSN) was created when Hastings-based Financial Advisors’ Stewart Group decided to reduce their reliance on the national power grid by installing a 44kw per hour solar array on their Karamu Road building. 

Now partnered with Our Energy company and using bespoke software, Te Rehe has about 120 members buying and selling solar power across HB and as a far north as Northland and Waiheke Island. 

One happy Te Rehe member is farmer and Hastings District Councillor Marcus Buddo. He has 24, 375 watt panels on his Poukawa farm’s north-facing woolshed and this is contributing significant power to the woolshed, farm homestead, manager’s cottage and shearers quarters. “Our power bill has gone from about $600 per month to $200.”

For Buddo his first concern was that the investment in solar made financial sense, which it does. “After that,” he says, “it’s good to be able to do something positive for the environment.” 

Buddo brings the same approach as a HDC Councillor when thinking about solar farming. “Where we’ve got appropriate land, and not on our highly productive soils, then solar farming should definitely be part of Hawke’s Bay’s land-use mix in the future.”

You can bet Thomas Edison would agree.

Sites being funded by the Community Renewable Energy Fund

Cook Islands Community Hall, Flaxmere

Elsthorpe Hall

Havelock North Function Centre

Hastings Sports Centre

Waipukurau War Memorial Hall

Taihoa Marae

Rongomaraeroa Marae

Wairoa War Memorial Hall

Tuai Hall

Oamahu Marae

Te Haroto Marae

Waiohiki Marae

CHB Municipal Theatre, Waipawa

Samoan Assembly of God, Napier

Hohepa, Taradale

Ongaonga Playschool and Hall

Rongomaiwahine, Mahia

Napier Central School

Note: Some sites are yet to go through engineering appraisal and resource consent process which may affect whether they can install a solar PV and battery system as part of MBIE Community Resilience Programme

BayBuzz energy and climate reporting is sponsored by Unison in support of independent local journalism.