A “New Era” For Energy In New Zealand Is Underway, With The Country’s Largest Solar Installation Now Generating Electricity

A “new era” for energy in New Zealand is underway, with the country’s largest solar installation now generating electricity. Lodestone Energy, NZ’s leading utility-scale solar energy company, began generating electricity at its farm in Kaitāia in late November. It is the country’s largest solar installation to date and the first solar farm in NZ to bid into the electricity market. Since construction on Lodestone’s Kaitāia farm ramped up in early 2023, the project has employed more than 125 installers and technicians, many of them local to Kaitāia, and involved more that 22 equipment suppliers and service providers. Lodestone’s Phase 1 programme includes solar farms at Kaitāia, Edgecumbe, Waiotahe, Whitianga and Dargaville. Kaitāia is the first to start generating and with more than 61,000 solar panels installed, the farm will generate 55 GWh of power annually and used for residential and commercial energy consumers, most notably the Warehouse Group, which has signed up all of its stores to Lodestone’s Phase 1 portfolio.