Agri-Solar Farm Could Provide New Cash Crop In Waipara

A proposed solar farm near Waipara that aims to combine agriculture, horticulture and energy production on the same site is a pioneering example of modern sustainable land use in the age of renewable energy generation, developers say.

The 135MWp, 200ha solar farm, which would generate enough clean electricity to power around 28,000 average kiwi homes, is being developed by Far North Solar Farm. The agri-voltaics design would allow for the continuation of sheep farming as well as potentially developing a portion of the site in grapevines, in keeping with other horticulture in the area.

“Agri-voltaics is common overseas and is a great way to provide sustainable dual land use development in agricultural areas, especially those prone to drought as North Canterbury can be,” Far North Solar Farm chief executive John Telfer says.

Stakeholder and community consultation is underway and technical studies to assess the viability of the agri-voltaic solar farm model would also be completed.

Landowner Tom Kidner says the opportunity to diversify farm income, as well as making a positive contribution to helping the country reach its emissions-reductions targets by facilitating the growth of renewable energy, were the key motivators in developing the site.

“With high interest rates and slumping commodity prices, farmers are having to think innovatively and diversify to stay profitable and sustainable so the prospect of developing a new cash crop here through energy production would be a real boost,” Tom Kidner says.

Agri-voltaics works by growing crops or grass between the rows of solar panels, allowing for dual use of the available land. The panels provide periods of shade throughout the day for plants and animals reducing ground temperatures and moisture loss within the soil.

A recent Massey University study found the areas between the rows of solar panels produced nearly 40% more grass than areas that received no periodic shading at all.

“With climate change predicted to make droughts more frequent and intense, having the benefits of shading from the panels could make a really positive difference to the productivity of the whole site,” Tom Kidner says.

The Waipara site was specifically chosen because it is flat and close to the Waipara substation. Far North Solar Farm says this is crucial because solar farms need to be able to connect to existing electricity infrastructure to input their power – like an extension cord plugging into a wall socket. The shorter the extension cord, the more cost effective the connection.

John Telfer says careful design planning and tree planting would be used to screen the solar farm from most public viewpoints.

“While our share of renewables is high by world standards, the fact is New Zealand still burns fossil fuels to account for almost 20% of our electricity needs”.

“Transpower estimates our current generation capacity will need to more than double in the next 25 years to keep up with electricity demand and like it or not, that will all have to be met with renewable generation if we want to keep the lights on and meet emissions reduction targets,” Telfer says.

The renewable energy output from the Waipara solar farm would effectively provide emissions offsets equivalent to removing 13,644 cars from the national fleet.

The proposed Waipara solar farm is a joint development between Far North Solar Farm, a solar energy asset developer based in Auckland, and Aquila Clean Energy Asia Pacific, a clean energy platform headquartered in Singapore. Aquila Clean Energy is part of Aquila Group, a global sustainable investment management and asset development company, based in Hamburg, Germany.

The partnership is investing in a portfolio of utility-scale solar projects across New Zealand with a total 1.4GW pipeline of projects under development. This represents almost 15% of the country’s current total operational electricity production capacity which was 9.79GW in 2022 (MBIE).

© Scoop Media