Meridian agreeing to further enhance the protection of natural wetlands and dunes,<\/a> and restoration of wetland areas, specifically by the creation of a new 5ha wetland, restoration of 4ha of existing wetland, and 22ha of native planting across the site.<\/p>\nBarclay said the resolution was a positive outcome for the environment and the community. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re committed to increasing the amount of renewable electricity we generate and store so that we can help meet New Zealand\u2019s growing demand for clean energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Meridian]()
Meridian Energy’s first grid-scale solar project in New Zealand will be built on three sites alongside its first battery energy storage site – the white container-like structures in this image. <\/p>\n
Meridian general manager of development Guy Waipara said the solar farm was a perfect complement for the company\u2019s many hydro stations and wind farms.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs more new renewable generation like wind and solar power is built, it\u2019ll lighten the demand on the country\u2019s hydro lakes to produce power year-round and reduce reliance on expensive thermal fuels like coal and gas.\u201d<\/p>\n
The project has a strong sustainability focus, he said. More than 79,000 tonnes of construction carbon emissions would be completely offset by the wetland and planting activities. Local employment would be prioritised.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know how important it is to be a good neighbour and to do our part for the environment. And once it\u2019s done, we\u2019re planning to show how farming and electricity can co-exist by having sheep grazing between the panels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meridian has awarded the engineering procurement and construction contract to UK-based Ethical Power, which specialises in solar and battery energy storage systems.<\/p>\n
Ethical Power New Zealand managing director Matt Rowe said, \u201cAlthough this is Meridian\u2019s first solar site, Ethical Power is drawing on 15 years of experience in delivering solar PV solutions to ensure the highest quality outcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat makes this project truly special is our shared values around sustainability, environmental care, and community, which will help us build an exceptional project with a positive impact all around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having invested more than $1 billion in the past five years, Meridian is investing a further $2b over the next three years. These projects include the 90MW Mt Munro Wind Farm near Eket\u0101huna, a 50-50 joint venture with Nova Energy for the 400MW Te Rahui Solar Farm at Rangit\u0101iki, a 100MW BESS in Manawat\u016b, and the Te Rere Hau Wind Farm repowering project, also in Manawat\u016b.<\/p>\n
Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on a wide range of issues. She has nearly 20 years\u2019 experience in journalism, most of which she spent court reporting in Gisborne and on the East Coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spanning 201ha across three sites, it will feature approximately 250,000 solar panels over an area the equivalent of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[81016,81015,10141,138,1568,41090,3233,6800,68596,1132,111,139,1067,69,59966,90,10112,72851,4166,1569,61,4576],"class_list":["post-113610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-81016","tag-227m","tag-begun","tag-business","tag-construction","tag-energys","tag-farm","tag-homes","tag-meridian","tag-million","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-officially","tag-on","tag-power","tag-ruakk","tag-solar","tag-starts","tag-to","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}