Harapaki wind farm<\/a>, which cost about $450m and is located next to the same highway.<\/p>\nNova Energy chief executive Rob Foster said the golden row event marked a milestone for the project.<\/p>\n
![\"Todd]()
Todd chief executive Evan Davies (left) and Nova Energy chief executive Rob Foster at the solar farm inspecting the first rows of solar panels. Photo \/ John Cowpland<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery panel installed moves Te Rahui closer to delivering more renewable electricity for New Zealanders, while creating jobs and lasting benefits here in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
Te Rahui is New Zealand\u2019s largest solar farm to have gained consent to date, according to the organisations behind the project.<\/p>\n
The project received consent in late 2022, and an appeal in the Environment Court was dismissed in 2024, paving the way for the project to proceed.<\/p>\n
Solar panels typically have a lifespan of between 25 and 30 years.<\/p>\n
![\"How]()
How the completed Te Rahui is expected to look. Photo \/ Todd Corporation<\/p>\n
The project\u2019s consent includes a condition \u201cthat the components and infrastructure are disposed of in a way that maximises reuse and recycling\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor any parts that cannot be reused or recycled, [the consent holder is to ensure] that they are disposed of in an environmentally responsible way in accordance with industry best practice,\u201d the consent reads.<\/p>\n
Construction of a substation, a piece of infrastructure that connects the solar farm to the electrical grid, is also underway at the site.<\/p>\n
The site was selected for its good exposure to sunlight, suitable landscape, proximity to existing grid infrastructure, and ability to accommodate a large-scale solar project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first rows of panels installed at the Te\u00a0Rahui\u00a0solar farm. Photo \/ John Cowpland \/ Alphapix Work on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[95,15385,10141,682,5432,6658,138,1568,3233,19136,3607,111,139,69,3272,213656,4166,1852,8690,58455,2963],"class_list":["post-415399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-and","tag-approved","tag-begun","tag-being","tag-between","tag-built","tag-business","tag-construction","tag-farm","tag-largest","tag-napier","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-nzs","tag-rahui","tag-solar","tag-taup","tag-te","tag-underway","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415399","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=415399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}