The above post from Jantar five years ago provides an interesting context for today's announcement from Contact Energy.
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https://www.nzx.com/announcements/406412
"With around 300,000 solar panels, Kōwhai Park’s solar farm will be among the largest in New Zealand."
"The expected 150MW (or 170MWp) array will generate 290 GWh per year. This is equivalent to the annual demand of approximately 36,000 homes or approximately half of Christchurch’s domestic flights being converted to low-emission technologies."
"Contact Energy CEO Mike Fuge says they’re excited to announce this development partnership."
“We’ve committed to creating up to 380,000 megawatt hours of grid-scale solar generation by 2026, this project will deliver over half of that."
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Now who are Lightsource bp? The BP bit is that petroleum multinational that like to brand themselves 'Beyond Petroleum' these days. Lightsource is a British start up, founded in 2010 and now recognised as one of the largest solar developers in the world. "Lightsource bp" is a 50.50 joint venture between these two companies.
" “Lightsource bp has a strong international track record of successfully delivering utility scale solar projects, and with our partners at Contact Energy we look forward to working closely with Christchurch Airport on the development, construction and operation of Kōwhai Park,” says Adam Pegg, (LSbp’s Australia and New Zealand Country Manager"
https://lightsourcebp.com/about/
Contact is a 50/50 joint partner in developing this project, but has contracted to buy all of the power output from the solar array once built.
On the surface Kowhai Park looks like a good fit to be built on Christchurch Airport land. The airport is a power hungry operation and most of that power demand is in daylight. A perfect fit then, for having a large solar farm on the doorstep. But despite being a power hungry operation, I doubt if they would consume the equivalent power of 36,000 homes. However with all of those Fendalton housewives and househusbands on the doorstep, there will be plenty left over to power the morning tea party teapots and wash the starched table cloths afterwards.
The real question that remains unanswered in the Contact energy news release is the effect on grid stability, as I highlighted in bold in Jantars post. Could Kowhai Park be the domino that sees the Lake Onslow pumped storage project green lighted for sure? And hey presto, Contact are right on the doorstep to manage that! Very clever business tactics from Contact CEO Mike Fuge.
SNOOPY