Electricity produced at a massive Far North solar farm could end up powering big-box retail stores from Kaitāia to Invercargill.
Kiwi company Lodestone Energy, which is building the country’s largest solar farm on Gills Rd, just a few kilometres from central Kaitāia, as well as solar farms near Dargaville and elsewhere in the country, has signed a long-term deal with The Warehouse Group to supply power to its stores across the country.
The deal is for all New Zealand sites where The Warehouse Group purchases electricity directly - including sites occupied by The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery, Noel Leeming and Torpedo7 stores and its distribution centres and store support offices, including its Kaitāia and Waipapa branches.
Lodestone Energy is constructing a massive solar farm which has about 60 hectares of solar panels on 80ha in Gills Rd, about 3km northwest of Kaitāia. It’s on track to deliver its first input of power to the national grid in November and be fully operational in December.
When fully finished, is expected to generate 55GWh (gigawatt hours) a year, making it New Zealand’s biggest solar power station. Lodestone is also building a solar farm near Dargaville.