Meridian Energy has received the go-ahead to construct a 120 MW solar farm in Ruakākā, Northland, after the Environment Court approved increased protections for local wetlands.
Last year, the solar farm was initially granted resource consent by the Northland Regional Council. However, Forest and Bird appealed the decision, citing concerns about the farm’s potential impact on local wetlands.
In addition to Forest and Bird’s appeal, an individual named Shaun Erikson also raised concerns regarding the solar farm’s potential to create heat island effects, which involve an increase in ambient temperature due to its development.
Meridian chief executive Neal Barclay stated that discussions between Meridian, appellants, and interested parties were being made, which led to the resolution of issues. As part of the agreement, a 9 ha wetland and dune habitat will be protected from Meridian’s solar farm development.
Meridian will also restore an additional 5 ha of wetlands.
Barclay expressed satisfaction on the swift resolution of the appeal, allowing the project to proceed and deliver “big benefits” to both Northland’s resilience and New Zealand’s power generation capabilities.
“We know how important it is to invest in new generation and increase the security of New Zealand’s electricity supply,” he said.
The Ruakākā solar farm will have up to 250,000 solar panels spread across 200 hectares, producing 150 to 200 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, which is sufficient to power over half of the homes in Northland.
The farm is expected to commence in the middle of the year and is the second phase of Meridian’s Ruakākā Energy Park. The park incorporates a 100 MW battery energy storage system that is expected to be fully operational this April.