A solar farm near Foxton is the 32nd project and eighth renewable energy project to be granted Fast-track approval.
Genesis Energy lodged its application in February 2026, with approval taking around three and a half months since the appointment of an independent expert panel.
“The 220 MWp solar farm will generate approximately 345 GWh of renewable electricity annually, enough to power approximately 47,000 homes,” said Chris Bishop.
“Reliable renewable electricity generation is critical to supporting economic growth and regional resilience.
“New renewable energy projects approved through Fast-track will add more than 990 megawatts of new generation capacity. That’s more than five per cent of New Zealand’s current generation capacity and enough to power approximately 322,000 households annually.”
““The project will provide around 100 jobs during construction and contribute directly and indirectly to the local economy,” Shane Jones said.
“The project represents a major investment in the region and will help drive regional economic growth while advancing New Zealand’s transition to a more reliable and sustainable energy future.”
Simeon Brown said the Government’s goal is abundant, affordable and reliable power for all New Zealanders.
“Demand for electricity is expected to increase significantly as New Zealanders increasingly go electric in everything from their bikes to their businesses.
“This project will contribute to the Government’s goal of doubling renewable energy generation by 2050. Renewables were a record 96.5 per cent of electricity generation in the last three months of last year and more generation is required for a resilient and reliable electricity supply to underpin economic growth.
“Fast-tracking the consenting process to encourage investment in new energy generation is a key part of achieving that 2050 goal.”
Image credit: Evgeniy Alyoshin
For pete’s sake stop it. Stop the insanity. Go nuclear for the sake of the environment. Get some brains. Stop wasting money on so called renewables which are NOT renewable but will leave more toxic waste than nuclear energy.
Very true.
Here are some nuclear options that are time-tested and proven safe!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_modular_reactor
Putting these on barges and floating the same on man-made ponds or lakes offers an emergency cooling source AND a liquid shock absorber from quakes!
Corporatocracy “Fast-tracking” its corporate agenda of criminal corruption.
The ‘solar renewal’ treadmill…
https://joannenova.com.au/2026/02/solar-photovoltaics-degrading-faster-than-expected-8-may-only-last-11-years/
AND-
These are also prone to EMP’s..Electromagnetic Pulses from the sun, and high-altitude nuclear bursts overhead.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNy-7PFibVU
A modular nuclear reactor is immune from such destructive pulses!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_modular_reactor
P.F.S….Pretty ***king Stupid, as the Manawatu is cloudy and this limits solar panel output!
Besides, Foxton is in a Tsunami Zone!
The soil is also loose sand, which will probably offer only sub-optimal support against liquefaction in a quake.
Toss in the volcanoes of Ruapehu, Tongariri and Egmont as ash producers that could cover the solar panels for weeks at a time, and you have a real waste of taxpayer money!
The better place for such an idea is in the Nelson / Marlborough Region which has the most uninterrupted sunshine.
OR-
Allow for grant money for homeowners to install solar on their homes or on their properties!
The destruction of the environment and nature is progressing in the name of a sick ideology. When will this madness finally end? When everything is destroyed?
We are FORCED to go electric, this is what globalists want and not what sane people want.
Globalists withold the free energy created by Nicoli Tesla more than 100 years ago.
Clean coal energy, more carbon for the atmosphere = greater plant production.
People are only just waking up, solar panels are the energy scam that pure toxifies the land. Simply putting it, tech ain’t there yet.
Can journalists name those investors directly financially benefiting from this? That would be a scoop….
Here’ a better question; when is NZ’s electricity and energy sector going to be better regulated (as it is in most other developed nations) so we cane ensure real competition between providers going forward and more affordable energy? None of the big mainstream party’s have tackled this issue in a meaningful way.
Meanwhile the eye-darting corporate- boardroom electricity snakes backslap themselves in smirking glee with record profiteering results with record price increases shovelled directly onto muggins citizens, whilst the bazillion dollar tax-payer funded martian/ alien tripod farm behind ashhurst sits in shabby moss and grime-covered worn-out dishevelled disrepair with half the bullsh*t fkn things just sitting there as useless as the woke sneaky INCOMPETANT politicized brain-dead CLUELESS council jackasses prodding their woke-as-f*ck i-phone buttons and sipping their bullsh*t lattes in their bullsh*t council palaces