Harmony Energy, based in the UK, has been granted permission by New Zealand’s Environmental Protection Authority to construct the country’s largest solar farm. The proposed 147MW solar farm in the Waikato region will cover 182ha of a 260ha land at Te Aroha West, 140 km off Auckland.
Once completed, the solar power plant will be able to supply 30,000 houses with clean energy. It is anticipated to increase the region’s business and employment opportunities. In addition to the solar farm, Harmony Energy is developing projects in New Zealand with a combined capacity of more than 500 MW. A battery energy storage facility is being built in the UK near Cottingham, East Yorkshire. The battery plant will be the largest battery energy storage facility in the UK once it is finished, with the largest storage capacity of 198 MWh.
In March 2022, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners teamed up with the New Zealand Superannuation Fund to develop 1 GW of offshore wind capacity off New Zealand’s west coast. The projected capacity, which will be located on the South Taranaki Bight, will be equivalent to more than 11 per cent of New Zealand’s current electricity demand. The project’s scope could be expanded to 2 GW in the future to satisfy the country’s predicted rise in electricity demand.
