A small Hawke’s Bay settlement could be surrounded by three solar farms - including the region’s largest with 200,000 solar panels.
Two solar farms have been granted consent on the outskirts of Ongaonga township in Central Hawke’s Bay - to cover 144ha and 30ha respectively.
A third solar farm covering 239ha is also seeking consent which would be located less than 1km from Ongaonga township and - if it goes ahead - would be the largest solar farm in Hawke’s Bay.
Construction has not yet begun.
It comes as anticipation builds for the largest proposed solar farm project in New Zealand, the Te Rāhui solar farm, which has received consent and will be built just outside Hawke’s Bay.
That 1000-ha solar farm will be erected in Rangitaiki, near Taupō, and include about 900,000 solar panels and likely be visible from SH5 Napier-Taupō Rd.
Helios Energy is proposing a sprawling solar farm on farmland at 126 Taylor Rd, next to Ongaonga Golf Club and less than 1km from Ongaonga township.
Central Hawke’s Bay District Council is currently processing the resource consent application, which is open for public submissions until April 23 as a publicly notified project.
The project will take about a year to build if granted consent and generate enough electricity to power 29,000 homes.
“The proposed solar farm is to be built on land leased from three local farming families,” a project report read.
“These three properties have a combined area of 403ha, of which 239ha is proposed to be utilised for the solar farm.”
The plans include 204,438 ground-mounted solar panels, a battery energy storage system, and a substation.
“The panels will be aligned in north and south rows, and the panels will follow the movement of the sun throughout the day,” the report read.
There will be sheep grazing under and around the panels.
The central axis of the panels will be about 1.8m high and, when the panels rotate, the maximum height of the panels will be 2.8m.
“At the end of its 35-year operational life span, the solar farm will be decommissioned by the applicant with the land remediated and reinstated for ongoing agricultural production,” the resource consent application stated.
It is the largest proposed solar farm project in Hawke’s Bay.
SkySolar received consent in 2020 to build a large solar farm at 189 Plantation Rd on the outskirts of Ongaonga.
However, the 144ha project has hit delays since then.
SkySolar went into liquidation owing millions of dollars in 2023, putting a question mark over the project.
Liquidator Iain McLennan told Hawke’s Bay Today this week the project was still alive and parties were interested in buying the consented project to make it happen.
“It is progressing, not as quickly as we would like, but it is progressing nicely,” he said.
Centralines Ltd received consent last September for a 30-ha solar farm at 921 Ongaonga Rd.
Centralines declined to comment at this stage about the project, when contacted by Hawke’s Bay Today, including when construction could begin.
“The scale of the development is expected to be 30 megawatts of renewable electricity generation, being enough renewable electricity to power approximately 6000 homes,” a project report read.
“The proposed solar farm directly aligns with New Zealand’s emissions reduction strategy by providing renewable electricity generation to assist the transition to a low emissions future and meet climate change targets.”
Central Hawke’s Bay District Council granted consent for that project.
Ongaonga is considered “an ideal location” for solar projects, one project report stated.
The area gets good sunlight hours, is close to the Waipawa Substation, boasts an abundance of relatively flat farmland, and receives minimal shading from the likes of nearby mountains.
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.