Lodestone teams up with high-country station for Mackenzie Country solar project

The solar panels at Lodestone Energy’s massive Kaitāia solar farm, the largest in the country so far.

Lodestone Energy is teaming up with Haldon Station, in the heart of the Mackenzie District, to build and operate a 220-megawatt (MW) utility-scale solar farm.

The project, when completed, would be able to power nearly 50,000 homes, Lodestone said.

The partners have selected a 340-hectare block for the solar farm, which represents 1.5% of the total station.

Haldon Station has been owned by the Klisser family for more than three decades and is one of New Zealand’s premier high-country stations, spanning more than 22,000 hectares.

“Haldon Station had been considering for years how to enhance this area on the property that is non-productive and has suffered from significant wind erosion due to its dryness and pest infiltration,” Lodestone said.

The company saw value in the area because of its sunniness, proximity to transmission infrastructure, good road access and minimal visual impact.

The partners also believed there was an opportunity for meaningful ecological restoration during the 70 years the solar farm could be operating.

Construction is planned to start in 2025 and it would produce 340 gigawatt hours (GWh) a year at full capacity.

Early this month, Lodestone said it had appointed Forsyth Barr and Australian financial services firm Barrenjoey to lead its next capital raise to fund the development of more solar farms across New Zealand.

The “Series D” raise was expected to launch in the third quarter of this year and would fund Lodestone’s Phase 2 solar programme, the company said.

This would include the development of eight more solar farms, bringing 470GWh of energy to the market.

Managing director Gary Holden said the company would continue to adopt an “agri-voltaic” design across all its sites, which it says maximises the production of electricity and maintains productive farming.

Lodestone Energy, founded in 2019, specialises in utility-scale solar generation projects.

It has two utility-scale solar farms generating electricity, with construction under way on the third in the Bay of Plenty.

Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets and the primary sector. He joined the Herald in 2011.