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New Energy World
New Energy World embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low carbon technologies.
The Kaitaia solar project in New Zealand has begun generating electricity. Claimed to be the country’s largest solar installation to date, it is also the first such project to bid into the national electricity market.
Kaitaia is operated by Lodestone Energy, whose phase one capital programme includes solar farms at Kaitaia, Edgecumbe, Waiotahe, Whitianga and Dargaville, with Kaitaia the first of its solar farms to start generating.
Lessons learned in the construction of Kaitaia are now being applied in the planning and building of the future farms, with the company’s second farm, Edgecumbe, expected to be commissioned early in 2024 and the third, Waiotahe, planned to be generating in late 2024.
According to Lodestone, Kaitaia is the first solar farm in New Zealand to be large enough to be required to ‘bid’ into the country’s power market, requiring it to inform the electricity market operator how much power is to be generated every half hour, enabling it to match supply with demand.
Another first for New Zealand is the agrivoltaic design of the Kaitaia solar farm, which Lodestone claims will ‘maximise the production of electricity and maintain productive farming activity’.
With more than 61,000 solar panels installed, the farm will generate 55 GWh of power annually and is earmarked to serve residential and commercial energy consumers; most notably The Warehouse Group who has signed up all of its stores to Lodestone’s phase 1 portfolio.
