It’s full speed ahead for Aotearoa’s biggest solar farm.

The $104 million Lauriston solar farm, a joint venture between Genesis Energy and Future Renewable Vision Australia, has been in the works since April.

The land is owned by Bernard Daley, a third-generation farmer, with his land being leased for the project. 

Around 450 panels, named the "golden row”, were set up and ready for action during a site tour for council and project board members.

Beon Construction compliance and sustainability manager Kirsten Lee said the fields of panels would become self-sustaining to a degree. Rain would wash the panels and eventually sheep would be brought into the mix to maintain the grass.

"They had sheep here before we started, so I think the owner would be pretty keen to get them back in here,” she said.

"Generally, there aren’t enough exposed wires at their height for them to chew on. That’s why cows are a definite no-go.”

Lee said the plant should be able to power 13,000 homes. According to the 2018 census, there were 13,083 properties in the Ashburton district. 

"It’s an exciting opportunity for us, working in New Zealand. It’s our first New Zealand project, after a number in Australia.

"It is pretty mind blowing.”

Genesis commercial development general manager Craig Brown said the farm broke new ground for renewables in the country. 

"The project represents a number of firsts for Genesis, our joint venture, but also for New Zealand.”

He said the Ashburton area had the "perfect synergy” for solar power.

"A lot of the demand for this district is over summer because of the local irrigation load, whereas most of New Zealand’s big demand is in winter. And obviously solar farms generate most of their generation in summer.”

"Having a solar farm somewhere like Ashburton is a really good match.”

The golden row is a drop in the bucket - a tiny 0.005% of the final farm. Around 89,000 panels would span the 93 acres of leased land by project’s end, which has been ambitiously pencilled in for the end of this year.

"That’s still our target, to finish construction this year, and to get energised this year,” Beon Construction general manager Kieren Lewis said.

Piling and electrical work is the current task, he said, and soon they’ll be reaching out for labourers.

"One of our focuses is working with the community and trying to get some local employment.”

Lee said the recruitment process is already underway.

"Using labour hire companies to go across Ashburton, Christchurch… pretty much anyone and everyone that we can bring in.”

She said things would start to fall in place "like a meccano set” once panels started getting put onto stakes.

"Once this mechanical work picks up in the next few weeks, we’ll be bringing as many people as we can.”

By Anisha Satya