Christchurch Airport is committing 400 hectares to create a renewable energy park with a solar farm that will generate enough to power 30,000 homes.
A concept image of Kōwhai Park at Christchurch Airport. Photo: Supplied
Kōwhai Park will be located on the airport's Harewood campus, with hopes it will help businesses to transition away from fossil fuels.
The park will scale up over the next 30 years with the first phase dedicated to a solar energy farm capable of generating 150 megawatts of electricity. That is about 20 percent of Christchurch's current residential electricity use.
The park will support future development of green fuel production for land and air transport, green data centres and green vertical farming.
It was launched this afternoon with Energy Minister Megan Woods, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel planting two kōwhai trees on its site, next to the century-old kōwhai the park is named after.
Australian renewable energy fund Solar Bay was committing $100 million to the development of Phase One.
Investment director Jack Sherratt said there was nothing else like this in New Zealand.
"It's innovative, far ahead of its time and absolutely world-leading in every sense," Sherratt said.
"The Phase One solar array is 50 times larger than any existing array in the country - and it's just the beginning. This will accelerate Canterbury's low carbon future."
A concept photo of Phase One of Kōwhai Park at Christchurch Airport. Photo: Supplied
Airport chief executive Malcolm Johns said it would provide a resilient, renewable energy supply into the future, and the park was part of the airport's plan to become climate positive over the coming decade.
"Over the past decade, our team has systematically decarbonised our business. We've reduced 85 percent of our direct emissions and we're on track to be carbon zero well before the city's goal of 2030 and New Zealand's goal of 2050.
"We want to enable the rest of the economy to decarbonise at the fastest possible rate. That is what Kōwhai Park is about."
It would deliver green energy so other businesses could transition, he said.
Christchurch Airport chief executive Malcolm Johns. Photo: Supplied / Port Hills Productions Ltd
"As we decarbonise, demand on our renewable energy supply is expected to increase by 68 percent. Kōwhai Park will, over time, help meet that additional demand and provide a resilient supply of renewable energy Canterbury and New Zealand can rely on," Johns said.
"It will also assist aviation to decarbonise and decouple from fossil fuels.
"In New Zealand, we're likely to see both electric and hydrogen-fuelled planes on our domestic routes over the next few decades. Kōwhai Park can support this transition at Christchurch."
The park was nestled between Orion's lines network that supplied the city and Transpower's national grid pylons.
Kōwhai Park would not only focus on solar, Johns said.
"The airport will be making available long-term leases at Kōwhai Park to both large and small
organisations looking for a site for a renewable energy generation, storage and green fuels.
"We will be making other land available for green data centres and green vertical farming operators to tap the renewable energy Kōwhai Park will offer.
"If 400 hectares isn't ultimately enough, we have options across the campus to double this footprint over time."