There has been more than one headline this year about a solar farm in Mid Canterbury. Why here, who’s building them, and what do locals get out of it? Anisha Satya talked with the players in our power grid to get a better picture.

Energy has become an expensive necessity in the last year.

It’s outpaced inflation, closed businesses, and frankly, is becoming depressing to read about.

There was hope earlier this week that the government would “shake up” the energy sector, but there were more words than actions at the press conference.

One “measure” was a written statement of support sent to power companies Genesis, Meridian and Mercury by Finance Minister Nicola Willis.

She told them the government would support capital funding requests which would improve New Zealand’s energy security (ensuring there’s enough energy for everyone in the country.)

The government will also begin work towards a new liquefied gas facility, and will implement stronger powers for the Electricity Authority, the Crown entity who oversees the electricity market.

Willis told reporters there was no “silver bullet” solution to high energy costs.

Labour’s energy spokesperson Megan Woods said it was a wasted opportunity for change in an interview with NZME.

“The government did have a mandate from New Zealanders, from households and businesses, to actually show some courage and make some meaningful change.

“But all we’re seeing is some tinkering around the edges with the status quo.”

She told NZME that two things were needed to begin improving our energy systems and costs; new generation, and efficient storage.

The first, new generation, means making more energy - finding new ways to trap wind for turbines, siphon from thermal vents, and catch sun for solar.

The second is about batteries. In summer, we don’t need heaters and electric blankets, so less energy gets used and there is leftover power.

By storing the leftovers somehow, like holding water in a dam, we can save the energy for when we need it more, improving security and lowering costs.

Turn away from the beehive and look out at Mid Canterbury’s plains - you might notice some paddocks are… shinier… than others.

In the last year, three solar farms have been revealed in the district: One in Lauriston, and two in Willowby.

“Willowby farm has been operating for close to one year now,” Lightyears Solar co-founder Matt Shanks said.

“It was the first medium sized solar farm built within Electricity Ashburton’s Network (EA Networks).”

What makes it medium sized? The solar panels cover eight hectares of Willowby lifestyle land, and generate 7.2 megawatts of electricity - that could power 1,800 homes a year.

There are two different farms on the same plot of land, managed by two different companies:

A 1.2 megawatt plot is owned by local supply-focussed Lightyears Solar, and the other six megawatts by RCR Green Development, a subsidiary of the Chow brothers-owned property management company Stonewood group.

The focus for Lightyears’ farm is supplying locals with power.

“None of the power leaves; it’s all consumed in the Ashburton area.”

But locally grown energy is not automatically cheaper.

“In terms of selling the energy, it all just goes into a big pot; people buy their electricity from all these different retailers.”

Shanks said Ashburton was flat, easy to build on, and saw higher levels of sunlight than was average for the country, which ticked a number of boxes.

But it was our uniquely high energy use in summer that piqued his interest.

“In most places in New Zealand, the highest energy demand is in winter, because it's cold, and everybody runs heating.

“But in Ashburton, and a few other areas in New Zealand, the highest demand is in summer, for irrigation.

“There are quite big motors on these irrigators, so as a result the electricity network is quite strong, which then suits itself for connecting these community-scale solar farms.”

Luis Porto is the Solar group manager at Ecotricity, who take the energy from the farm and trade it on the market.

He agrees that South Island solar works hardest in the summer.

“The other thing is; some of the networks there are quite progressive in the region.

There are 27 different energy networks in the country - EA Networks is responsible for the Ashburton region.

“At the network level, smaller sites like for example the Ashburton site, you can connect directly with the network operator in that region.”

Feedback from several solar farms has been that EA Networks had good capacity, and were willing to build more to get solar farms set up.

But Porto said there were always growing pains for solar projects in New Zealand, and Australia too.

“A lot of the networks are having to deal with solar farm applications for the first time.

“And the local council is kind of understanding what they have to ask, some of their questions and requirements are not necessarily reasonable for what the technology is.

“There's an education piece, not only for the wider public, but for decision makers within the public sector.”

Outgoing Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown can speak to the education point.

He’s seen both the Willowby and Lauriston farms, the latter a… slightly… larger project (some 93 hectares long, generating enough electricity to power 13,000 houses a year).

“You’re sort of in awe when you see it, and see thousands of them [panels] rowed up.”

It was New Zealand’s biggest solar farm back in August last year, a project between Genesis Energy, Future Renewable Vision Australia and farm builders Beon Energy Solutions.

(The title has since been taken by a 182ha, 330,000 panel farm in the Waikato.)

Brown said the panels made good use of land that would otherwise sit empty.

“The land that has been used so far has been unirrigated land; It's not hugely productive anyways.

“Farmers don’t have much of a choice in changing land use today, but they can change to a solar farm.”

The farms also require a lot of hands for setup, so the development process created a number of jobs for locals.

EA Networks chief executive said while the farms create temporary jobs, and some ongoing maintenance opportunities, the local benefit from that is modest.

And while having the farms here does mean more local generation, that doesn’t change what people pay on a regional scale.

“All generation goes into the national wholesale market, regardless of where it is generated.

“It doesn't really matter where energy comes from so long as there is enough to support consumer needs.”

He said the bigger payoff is improving the country’s energy supply as a whole.

“The more generation we have as a nation, the greater the supply of energy.

“This should put downward pressure on prices, or at least reduce the increase.”

So, TL;DR: the more solar farms we have in Mid Canterbury, the more electricity we have available to use. It also reduces our reliance on hydro power.

The more solar farms we have nationally, the cheaper power becomes for the whole country. In theory.

Mulder said while Ashburton has decent capacity and infrastructure, it’ll need improving soon - it’s an issue a lot of regional grids battle.

“As we get close to capacity it becomes harder for new solar connections to be able to export energy into our network. It can require significant investment.

Proximity to the network is another concern.

“Some locations have access to sub-transmission (high-capacity network) and can take large amounts of energy.

“Other areas such as Lake Heron or Rangitata Gorge that are remote, and at the end of long electricity network feeders, would be limited in terms of how much energy the network could accept.

“Location is important if you want to export a lot of energy.”

Why would Mulder be concerned about that? The farms seem fine so far.

It’s because there are more solar farms in the pipeline for EA Networks’ grid.

A search online shows Talleys is making steps towards a Five megawatt Fairton solar farm to reduce their energy demand.

Projects are popping up over the river, too. The team behind the major Lauriston farm will begin work on a “twin” solar farm in Leeston in 2026.

The final resource consent for a 117 megawatt project near Darfield, to be built by solar farm developer NZ Clean Energy, was approved late last month.

All that’s to say solar is finding its home in Canterbury, specifically here, in Mid Canterbury.

Our flat land, plentiful paddocks and weird energy patterns tick all the habitat requirements for a wild solar panel.

It’s a small step towards cheaper energy, but New Zealand has to start somewhere.

If the government won’t make moves, it’s the public’s turn to start taking things into their own hands (or paddocks) and start farming power.

The more power we farm, the cheaper it gets for everybody.

By Anisha Satya