AWARDS FINALIST: Lodestone Energy – Harnessing the sun, phase 1

Lodestone Energy set out to deliver, by 2025, the largest solar project Aotearoa has seen.

Capitalising quickly on its first-mover advantage, Lodestone became the first New Zealand generation company to reach financial close on three generation plants in a single year – a notable achievement.

In just two years, it built two utility-scale solar farms, with progress under way at three other sites. It remains on track to deliver the project at an impressive pace, with all sites due to be completed by 2025.

Phase 1 of the plan is to develop five grid-scale solar farms producing 320 GWh of energy per annum. The more ambitious phase 2 sees it adding a further 800 GWh of solar energy by 2029. A third phase is expected to follow.

Getting started

In the first year of operation, Lodestone raised $50 million to acquire land and fund the consenting and design of five solar farms – in Kaitaia, Edgecumbe, Waiotahe, Whitianga and Dargaville.

By the end of the second year, the remaining capital to build the five solar farms in phase 1 had been raised.

Phase 2 will add sites in Canterbury, Manawatu, Eastland, and the Mackenzie District. Capital raising for this has already begun, with $55 million raised earlier this year. Another $150 million is planned for the fourth quarter.

The farms

Lodestone wants to deliver low-cost renewable energy in a way that benefits the communities it operates in.

Both Kaitaia (33.3 MW) and Edgecumbe (32.4 MW) are already generating, Waiotahe (42.2 MW) is under construction and on target to be generating later this year, while Whitianga (32.2 MW) and Dargaville (52 MW) are set to commence groundwork later this year.

The farms’ design incorporates several technical innovations that improve their performance while enhancing the productivity of the land on which they operate.

Lodestone’s adopted technology and solar array design delivers 30 to 40 per cent greater productivity than flat rooftop solar.

Bi-facial solar panels generate about 12 per cent more energy than standard single-faced panels. Solar panels on each of the farms have transparent back sheets, allowing sunlight to pass through and be reflected back. Not commonly used in New Zealand, the panels are supplied by Trina Solar and have power output of 545-555W each.

Lodestone was also the first in New Zealand to adopt an agrivoltaic design on its solar farms, which enables generation to coexist with traditional agricultural activities. The design has fewer piles, higher racks (two metres) and wider spacing (9 to 11 metres) to accommodate machinery and livestock on the same area of land. While the full potential of agrivoltaics design is still being explored, indicators suggest it has a huge potential for improving land productivity.

Agreements

An important aspect of Lodestone’s success has been developing appropriate commercial arrangements with its partners and customers.

With no local designs or external lessons to leverage from similar projects in New Zealand, Lodestone needed to develop a highly bespoke engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the delivery of its Phase 1 sites. The contract needed to be carefully curated and localised, making it a first of its kind.

An important commercial milestone was the signing of an historic long-term power purchase agreement with The Warehouse Group, providing the retailer with 100 per cent of its annual demand from Lodestone’s solar farms through a first-of-a-kind “virtual rooftop“ energy supply arrangement as early as 2026.

Wider benefits

Lodestone partners with local contractors, many of whom haven’t worked on a project of this type or scale. As with the local construction staff they employ, the training and upskilling they receive provide new professional skills in a high-growth industry and play a significant part in building stronger, more skilled communities.

The team – including construction workers and partners such as Infratec and Trina Solar – now has extensive knowledge, experience, and skills when it comes to developing a utility-scale solar farm, which is being leveraged to improve the efficiency and performance of future developments.

The Low Carbon Future Award category is sponsored by Energy Resources Aotearoa.