Meridian Energy has been granted final consent approval by the New Zealand government to build its 120 MW Ruakākā solar project in Te Tai Tokerau (Northern New Zealand), despite some original concerns regarding the environmental aspects of the project. The Ruakākā solar project consists of up to 250,000 solar panels to produce about 200 GWh/year of electricity, enough to power half the homes in Northland. In addition, the project is also part of the Meridian’s Ruakākā Energy Park, which includes a 100 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) that is expected to be fully operational by April 2025. The project still needs to reach a final investment decision (FID) by the Meridian Board in March 2025, expecting to start construction works in in mid-2025 and to start commercial operations by early 2027.
Meridian Energy is the New Zealand’s largest electricity generation company with a total capacity of 2.94 GW (2024), consisting entirely of renewables (85% of hydro, and 19% of wind). At the end of New Zealand’s total electricity capacity amounts to 9.9 GW (end of 2023), of which solar represents 4%.
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