Inghams tours Lodestone’s Waiotahe solar farm, Te Herenga o Te Rā, with Sarah McHardy (left), Lodestone Energy GM customer; Matthew Easton, Inghams GM operations NZ; Boram Keam Inghams head of environment, sustainability & external relations; Nick Murray, Lodestone Energy project manager.
Inghams tours Lodestone’s Waiotahe solar farm, Te Herenga o Te Rā, with Sarah McHardy (left), Lodestone Energy GM customer; Matthew Easton, Inghams GM operations NZ; Boram Keam Inghams head of environment, sustainability & external relations; Nick Murray, Lodestone Energy project manager.
Chicken giant Inghams will use solar energy alone to power its New Zealand operations.
Inghams chief executive - New Zealand, Ed Alexander, said the company was delighted to work with Lodestone Energy on the innovative solar agreement.
“Sustainability is at the core of our operations, and this agreement is an important step in delivering on our sustainability targets by sourcing 100% of our electricity requirements from renewable sources.
“We have ambitious sustainability goals, and the long-term agreement with Lodestone allows us to both offset our electricity carbon footprint and secure a stable and cost-competitive energy source for the future.
“We are obtaining the same outcome as if we built our own renewable energy infrastructure, but without the up-front capital cost and ongoing maintenance requirements,” he said.
Lodestone managing director Gary Holden said the two were like-minded organisations, and it was satisfying to see another industry segment acting quickly to embrace our solution.
“Inghams had a strong desire to move to a fully decarbonised electricity supply in a timely manner, and with this agreement, Lodestone’s rapid development programme will deliver premium certified credentials as their current contracts expire.”
Planting native trees at Lodestone’s recent ground-breaking ceremony in Whitianga: Greg Bannon, (left) Inghams head of strategy and procurement and Gary Holden, Lodestone Energy managing director.
Greg Bannon, head of strategy and procurement at Inghams, said the company was always looking for improvements in sustainability.
The agreement with Lodestone Energy was “firmed up” over the past nine months.
Bannon said solar power would feed all of Inghams’ sites, ranging from a feed mill to a distribution centre, which, in total, employed about 1400 people.
This includes the primary processing plant at Waitoa in Waikato and the recently acquired Bostock Brothers’ operation — New Zealand’s only organic chicken producer — in Hawke’s Bay.
Bannon said a proposal to adopt a solar strategy was also being put to the company’s 36 chicken growers.
Bannon said the 10-year agreement between Inghams and Lodestone was “probably a first” for New Zealand.
“It ticks a lot of boxes for us.
“People want to know that their food comes from a good place.”
Holden said this past winter reminded all commercial operations to hedge their electricity usage.
“It is now the time to extend that thinking to longer terms that avoid the ongoing risk of carbon costs and natural gas.
“A solar-based hedge created with Lodestone’s new renewable generation was seen by Inghams as an attractive solution.”
Important step
Signing the first pile at Lodestone’s recent ground-breaking ceremony in Whitianga: Greg Bannon, Inghams head of strategy and procurement and Gary Holden, Lodestone Energy managing director.
For Lodestone, Holden said this partnership was another important step in delivering on a capital programme that planned to add over 800 GWh to market by 2028.
As a part of this agreement, Lodestone would supply Inghams with Renewable Energy Certificates (Recs).
“Recs are becoming recognised as the most tangible way for electricity consumers to contribute to the green energy transition,” he said.
“By offsetting 100% of their consumption with new sources, Inghams directly play their part in a decarbonised future.”
The agreement also reduces the number of carbon credits purchased every year from the voluntary market for Inghams’ two Toitū net carbon-zero certified brands (Waitoa Free Range Chicken and Let’s Eat plant-based).
Inghams will be part of an expanding Lodestone Energy network, with the solar generation company building its fourth North Island utility-scale solar farm near Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsular.
Construction began in September and, once operational, Lodestone’s Whitianga solar farm will generate about 50 GWh of clean renewable energy each year — enough electricity to power more than 6800 households.
The site will have more than 53,000 solar panels supported by 7150 piles. Construction is slated for completion by November 2025.
Gary Holden said the Whitianga project included a partnership with the electricity network operator Powerco, which was building a new substation on the same site.
On what was previously a dairy farm, Lodestone is using an agrivoltaic design to maximise electricity generation while preserving the farm’s productive land.
Setting the panels widely apart and high above the ground allows machinery to operate and sheep grazing or horticultural activities to continue around them, Holden said.
