Genesis Energy "has signalled its intent" to invest heavily in solar power development.
Three days after being at the centre of a storm over rolling blackouts after a grid emergency, Genesis announced it was "in active discussions with international solar developers to finalise a joint venture arrangement" which it said could deliver up to 500 megawatts of solar capacity over the next five year.
The company, 51 per cent owned by the Government, said the capacity would be enough to generate 750 gigawatt hours, enough to power 100,000 homes or 185,000 electric vehicles a year.
Most of the stations would be in the North Island near existing transmission connection points, the company said.
Genesis said its "future-gen" strategy aimed to displace baseload thermal generation with 2,650GWh a year of renewable generation by 2030.