A concept image of Kōwhai Park released in December 2021. The farm is now in the design phase. Photo: Christchurch Airport / supplied
Christchurch Airport's renewable energy precinct is closer to fruition after two companies were chosen to deliver phase one of the project.
The first stage of Kōwhai Park will consist of a solar farm with around 300,000 solar panels, spanning roughly 300 hectares near the airport's runways.
The airport has chosen Contact Energy and international solar developer Lightsource bp as its partners to develop the solar farm.
Airport planning and sustainability general manager Nick Flack said it was a momentous day for the project and the airport.
"It's the culmination of 12 months' work searching for the best partner internationally to build 300 hectares of solar to decarbonise aviation and land transport.
The solar farm would provide a large amount of green energy to help the aviation industry shift away from fossil fuels, Flack said.
Kōwhai Park is expected to generate the equivalent of the annual demand of roughly 36,000 homes, or half of Christchurch's domestic flights being converted to low-emissions technologies.
"And is a world-leading example of how New Zealand and its aviation system and its aviation partners together can decarbonise aviation and accelerate the decarbonisation, so that we can be a world leader and have hydrogen and electric aircraft flying in New Zealand before anywhere else in the world," Flack said.
Green hydrogen generation is also earmarked precinct in the future.
Construction on phase one is expected to start in 2024.
Contact Energy chief executive Mike Fuge said the company has committed to creating up to 380,000 megawatt hours of grid-scale solar generation by 2026.
"This project will deliver over half of that. We're bringing our proven track record of delivering domestic renewable projects in order to meet the massive anticipated demand for renewable electricity in New Zealand."
Christchurch Airport leases land from Environment Canterbury, with 159 hectares earmarked to become part of Kōwhai Park.
Environment Canterbury chair Peter Scott said many people didn't realise that the regional council was a significant landowner.
"It's exciting to see some of that land being used in an innovative way to provide a large-scale source of renewable energy. This project will make a big difference to Canterbury's efforts to decarbonise."
Contact Energy and Lightsource bp are expected to create a number of solar farms in Aotearoa together after entering an exclusive partnership to develop grid-scale solar farms in April last year.