Canterbury councils are calling for national direction on how to address the expansion of solar farms in the region
The Waimakariri District Council has added its voice to a call from Environment Canterbury for advice on how to address issues arising from a growing number of consent applications for large scale solar farms.
‘‘Solar farms have recently been of interest in the district,’’ planning, regulation and environment general manager Kelly LaValley said.
‘‘We agree that further national direction on solar farms would be beneficial in considering applications for large scale solar farms.’’
Her comments followed Environment Canterbury’s bid to seek advice on a proposed 670 hectare solar near Twizel.
The Waimakariri council has three solar farm resource consent applications of its own to consider.
The regional council recently supported an Environment Protection Agency (EPA) proposal to ask the Environment Minister to "call in" the consent application.
The Environment Minister can be asked to ‘call in’ the decision making process for resource consents when it is considered "a proposal of national significance".
The consent application can then be referred to the Environment Court or a board of enquiry to make the decision.
On the fast-track . . . Environment Canterbury councillors expressed concerned that local input and decision-making could be lost with the new Fast-track Approvals Bill. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)
Acting chairperson Craig Pauling said the decision on the consent could set a precedent for how such consents are considered in the future.
"I think solar power is a good thing, but some of the effects are still unknown, like what happens when you have a large-scale solar array next to a lake?
"‘There are concerns about whether birds will be able to tell the difference, and the answer is: We don’t know."
Pauling said any feedback would feed into a Canterbury regional energy policy.
Speaking at a council meeting on June 19, operations director Stephen Hall said the EPA had since sent a letter advising the Environment Minister to wait for the Fast-track Approvals Bill to come into effect.
Far North Solar Farm Ltd has applied to the regional council and to the Mackenzie District Council for resource consents to establish and operate a large-scale, 670ha, solar farm on a 968ha property.
The applications were publicly notified and submissions have closed.
A hearing has yet to be scheduled, pending the outcome of the "call in" request.
At its peak, the proposed solar farm would generate 420 megawatts of electricity, which was around 4% of New Zealand’s of total electricity generation capacity in 2022.
Far North Solar Farm Ltd has also applied to Environment Canterbury and the Hurunui District Council for resource consents to build a 180.8ha solar farm near Waipara.
Hall said the council’s advice was the consent application had "national significance: as there was a need for national direction around large-scale solar farms and the protection of "unique landscape".
The Hurunui District Council said it was unable to comment due to its consent process.
LDR is a local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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