Large-scale solar farms are popping up around the country with developers like Lodestone Energy behind major investments. Do the market economics of grid-scale solar stack up?
Off the main road between Tairua and Whitianga in the North Island’s Coromandel, a 45-hectare site is being converted from private farmland to a grid-scale solar farm.
The site, purchased by Lodestone Energy for about $2 million, was 60% complete, with contractors installing around 1600 panels per day.
“When wefirst started at Kaitāia, the best we could get was 800 panels a day‚” Lodestone chief financial officer Chris Jewell told Markets with Madison on site.
“It’s a production line.”
Contractors are installing 1600 solar panels per day on Lodestone Energy's 45-hectare site near Whitianga in the Coromandel.
Lodestone was a private company backed by investors including Guy Haddleton, Gareth Morgan and Sir Stephen Tindall.
It had farms operating in Kaitāia, Edgecumbe and Waiotahe, with more planned in Dargaville, Canterbury and the Mackenzie Basin.
Lodestone planned to eventually contribute 5% of total electricity generation with solar. Currently, solar contributed about 1% to the grid, or 250 megawatts worth.
Lodestone Energy's solar farm will have about 60,000 solar panels installed once complete, producing 49 GWh of energy annually, enough to power 6800 homes nearby.
It was an attractive investment because the price of setting up solar had reduced 100 times since the 1990s, Lodestone managing director Gary Holden told Markets with Madison.
Tour one of Lodestone’s biggest solar farms under construction, and understand how it plans to monetise energy produced by the sun, in today’s episode of Markets with Madison above.
Get investment insights from executives and experts on Markets with Madison every Monday and Friday here on the NZ Herald, on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Disclaimer: The information provided in this programme is of a general nature, and is not intended to be personalised financial advice. We encourage you to seek appropriate advice from a qualified professional to suit your individual circumstances.
Madison Malone (nee Reidy) is host and executive producer of the NZ Herald’s investment show Markets with Madison. She joined the Herald in 2022 after working in investment, and has covered business and economics for television and radio broadcasters.
