Construction of New Zealand (NZ)-headquartered Meridian Energy’s 120 MW Ruakākā Solar Farm is set to begin in August 2025, following the project reaching a final $206 million (USD 129 million) investment decision.
Ruakākā is the company’s first NZ solar farm, located 35 kilometres south of the North Island town of Whangārei and will be set adjacent to Meridian’s 100 MW Ruakākā battery energy storage system (BESS), scheduled for full operation in April.
Together, the projects complete the Ruakākā Energy Park.
With 250,000 solar panels and covering an area the size of 170 rugby fields, Ruakākā Solar Farm will be capable of producing up to 230 GWh of electricity per year – enough to power around half the homes in Northland, or approximately 44,000 homes.
Meridian Energy
Meridian Chief Executive Neal Barclay says Ruakākā Solar Farm will provide benefits to the New Zealand energy system and Northland’s energy resilience.
“This project is special. Not just because it’s our first solar farm in New Zealand, but because it will add so much to the Northland region in terms of energy resilience, and we’ve seen in recent years how important that is,” Barclay said.
“Ruakākā Solar Farm is part of a wave of new builds that are boosting the country’s energy supply. These are busy times for Meridian and many others investing in the generation market, and our collective efforts will enable more electricity use, provide alternatives to thermal fuels and boost the country’s energy security in dry years.”
Barclay added, as more and more new renewable generation comes online, consumers will start to see wholesale power prices come down, which is what Meridian wants for Kiwi homes and businesses.
Ethical Power
Meridian has also awarded construction, operations, and maintenance contracts for Ruakākā Solar Park to United Kingdom-headquartered renewable energy company Ethical Power’s Auckland-based team.
It is Ethical Power’s first engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract in New Zealand, and it will be responsible for detailed design engineering and optimisation of the project, as well as the procurement of modules and the full-wrap construction, involving extensive civils works, cabling, panel mounting and commissioning of the site.
Ethical Power NZ Managing Director Matt Rowe said the agreement is a significant milestone for the company and a high-profile client further strengthens its position in the NZ market. “Meridian has been a great partner throughout this process, and we look forward to building a strong, long-term relationship with them,” Rowe said.
Meridian Energy
Meridian Pipeline
Meridian’s development pipeline includes the announcement of a 50-50 joint venture with Nova Energy Limited to build the 400 MW Te Rahui Solar Farm at Rangitāiki near Taupō, and consent for a 100 MW BESS in Manawatū.
“There is real momentum in our development pipeline. We’re planning a $3 billion investment through to 2030 and expect to commit $1 billion of capital this year alone,” Barclay said.
“We have built a really strong in-house construction team that’s already capable of delivering two projects at once, so with consents lining up we know we’ve got what it takes to get these projects built and delivering more clean energy for our system and customers across Aotearoa.”
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.