Of the 171 submissions to the Central Otago District Council, more than 75% were against the proposal to build a solar farm on 660ha of farmland between Ranfurly and Naseby.
When the project was launched about a year ago, the developer, Helios, said there would be about half a million panels on the site which could power up to 70,000 homes.
A meeting in Ranfurly earlier this month attracted nearly 150 people who raised concerns, including fears of the potential fire risk from the proposed 32 shipping container-sized lithium battery stores planned for the site.
While most of the submissions were against the project, those in favour said they believed there would be economic benefits to the area.
One said it was just a different way of farming while generating clean, green electricity.
Most sheep and beef farmers needed to diversify with cropping or forestry, solar allowed for continued grazing.
Sheep and beef farming needed to change if water quality or greenhouse gas limits were to be achieved, another said.
Those against — who came from as far away as Christchurch — were worried about reduced property values, potential fire in the battery stores, glare from the panels and noise from installation and the batteries’ cooling fans.
Some thought their insurance premiums might increase due to their proximity and many were concerned about changing the Maniototo landscape.
Neighbouring farmer Gavin Crossan said nothing Helios could do would alter his view.
"Nothing in this application could ever mitigate the view that myself and my family will get from our farm house.
"We will look across 5km of glass, all day, every day.
"I have lived in this house all of my life and I have enjoyed the view of our farm land from our house for all that time.
"Helios have in their application that we could plant a hedge along our front fence of 1.8m-2.4m high to mitigate our view of their industrial complex.
This was not a suitable solution at all, Mr Crossan said.
"Our view of our farmland will be lost and I don’t want to look at a hedge."
Sending electricity to the North Island underwhelmed some who suggested the solar farm should be built nearer to where it was needed.
Maniototo-based planning and resource management consultant Jenny Grimmett offered free assistance to anyone at the meeting who needed help making a submission.
When submissions closed, Ms Grimmett said she had spent about 16 hours helping people with submissions.
A key issue that people experienced was difficulty accessing submission forms or filling them out.
