Lodestone Energy's third and largest solar farm powers up

Construction on Te Herenga o Te Rā in the Waiotahe Valley, Bay of Plenty began in December 2023 following first generation of Lodestone’s inaugural solar farm, Kohirā in Kaitaia. The farm has been developed in collaboration with local community stakeholders, including hapū Te Ūpokorehe, which gifted the farm its name, which translates to ‘The mooring place of the sun’.

Te Herenga o Te Rā is New Zealand’s first solar farm to be connected directly to Transpower’s national grid. Lodestone’s first two farms are connected to their local distribution networks and its fourth farm, currently under construction in Whitianga, will be connected to the Powerco distribution network.

Gary Holden, Managing Director of Lodestone Energy, said: “Utility scale solar is the lowest cost form of energy and the country will need significant volumes of new solar in order to build a more resilient, secure, lower cost energy system.“

Gary Holden emphasised the power of customer partnerships, saying: “Our partners are not only solving their own energy needs, but they are also enabling new infrastructure to be built that will benefit Aotearoa for decades to come. With nine further farms planned over the coming three years, we are already in discussions with a range of commercial partners looking to secure their energy futures.”

In addition to the environmental benefits of solar energy, Te Herenga o Te Rā is delivering broader value to its community. The build itself has injected economic value through job creation and upskilling opportunities, while the increased supply of locally generated electricity will contribute to the region's energy resilience long into the future.

Lodestone plans to continue to bring significant new projects to market with further sites in Dargaville, Manawatu, and Canterbury scheduled to begin construction in 2025. By 2028, Lodestone aims to generate over 800 GWh of certified renewable energy annually, tripling New Zealand's solar production from 2022 levels.