Developer KeaX has been granted resource consent for the solar farm after its first attempt was declined in March last year for not meeting the standard to pass the highly productive land requirement.
KeaX, which is based in Leeston, is likely to start building the 111ha farm off Buckleys Rd and Branch Drain Rd within the next 12 months.
Managing director Campbell McMath said the solar array will produce enough electricity to power about 11,000 of the district’s 29,900 homes.
It will have about 140,000 tracking solar panels, which follow the sun as it moves across the sky, capable of generating up to 50 megawatts of AC power and 75 megawatts of DC power.
Excess electricity would be fed back into the grid via the Brookside substation.
Hearing commissioner Matt Bonis said the project has now met all requirements to get resource consent.
Said Bonis: “I have concluded that the actual and potential effects on the environment associated with the proposal, subject to conditions being met, will be no more than minor.”
A petition earlier this year indicated about 100 residents were opposed to the application, but only eight could submit against it because it was a limited notified resource consent, meaning only people directly affected could make submissions.
“I’m gutted it’s gone ahead. I’m really unhappy about the decision and we’re all heartbroken.”
At the hearing in March, resident Ray Henderson argued the solar panels would leach metals into the soil.
But Bonis said Henderson’s data was “misleading” and disregarded it when making his decision.
McMath said the land on which the solar array will be built would still be used to graze animals. He said projects like this also provide a “stable” income for farmers who lease out their land.
“It’s great to see the co-existence of agriculture and renewable (energy) generation,” McMath said.
“We are leasing the land from the farmer. The farmer brings in a stable income (from the lease) so doesn’t need to worry about fluctuation in dairy or crop pricing.”
