Carterton solar farm gets fast-track consent

An independent panel has approved resource consent, subject to conditions, for a Carterton solar farm in the Wairarapa.

Harmony Energy NZ #2 applied for resource consent under the COVID-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020, says the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).

The project involves constructing and operating a solar farm on about 156 hectares to supply electricity to the national grid.

It includes installing some 240,000 solar panels and constructing power stations, a substation, a transformer, and a transmission line.

The resource consent conditions are in the decision report, and the EPA says it is not involved in the decision-making.

“We provide procedural advice and administrative support to the panel convenor, Judge Laurie Newhook, and the expert consenting panel he appoints.”

Earlier this year, Yorkshire-based Harmony Energy got the green light to develop New Zealand’s largest solar farm in the Waikato, which will generate enough electricity to power 30,000 homes.

The EPA approved Harmony’s proposal for the 147MW solar farm to be installed on 182 hectares of a 260-hectare site at Te Aroha West, 140km south of Auckland.

Harmony Energy has more than 500MW of projects planned for New Zealand.

In the United Kingdom, the company is in the final stages of developing a major battery energy storage facility at Pillswood, near Cottingham, in East Yorkshire. When finished later this year, the new facility will have the capacity to store up to 198MWh of power to feed directly back into the network, making it the largest battery energy storage facility in the UK.