increase font size
A visualisation of the Lincoln University Energy Farm.
Plans are afoot for an energy farm, which will demonstrate how productive land can be optimised to grow high-value horticulture crops while generating commercial-scale solar energy.
The Lincoln University Energy Farm, which is currently under review for resource consent, will be constructed on a 4ha parcel of university-owned land adjacent to the campus.
The university says that a distinctive feature of the Energy Farm will be its ability to host a comprehensive range of experiments and crop trials to help develop “leading-edge practices that can be replicated and rolled out across New Zealand and the world”. The increase in biodiversity will also be a subject of research, with extensive native planting around and within the site for crop wind protection, onsite water management and improved aesthetics.
The 1.5 MWp solar installation will comprise around 2,800 photovoltaic (PV) panels, generating ~2.3 GWh of renewable energy per year. The rows of bifacial PV panels will be mounted on a state-ofthe- art east-west tracking system, with two different height configurations, allowing for commercial crop production alongside and underneath the panel structures.
The specific high-value crops to be co-located with the solar array are yet to be determined but are likely to be blueberries, ranui berries or snowberries.
Next to the main array, a second smaller array will be dedicated to multi-use research as its main function, with complete manual control, different height and panel configurations, and different panel technologies.
The new Energy Farm will be the first demonstration of high-value agrivoltaics in New Zealand. While livestock grazing is commonly practised within solar installations locally and internationally, this approach is primarily for the purpose of managing grass growth and is relatively low value.
Lincoln says it was also the first New Zealand university to generate solar energy on a commercial scale, with several campus buildings supporting large roof-and-wall-mounted solar arrays.
Scheduled for completion mid-2025, the energy farm is expected to increase the university’s total generating capacity to approximately ~3.56 GWh, covering 18% of the campus’s annual electricity requirements after the heating system upgrade to 100% electric power.
Most of the energy generated by the new array will be used by the Lincoln campus, though the university will be looking to donate excess energy to the nearby community during low-demand periods like the end-of-year break and summer weekends.
Lincoln University’s chief operating officer, Susie Roulston, said the proposed energy farm is key to the university’s goal to become carbon neutral by 2030 and carbon zero by 2050.
“Our multi-disciplinary approach has enabled decarbonisation and a novel agrivoltaic system.”
Dr Amber Parker was guest speaker at the 2024 Southern Pinot Noir Workshop in Hanmer, sharing insights on potential impacts of climate change on viticulture, along with adaptation opportunities, particularly with regard to Pinot Noir. Amber, who is Lincoln University's Director of the Centre for Viticulture and Oenology, shares some of her learnings.
How much shade and shelter do our sheep need in an era of more extreme weather and the lack of natural shelter on farms?
A group of volunteers from Lincoln University known as the 'Handy Landies' is among those descending on Otago to help farmers get their properties back to normal.
Harnessing microbial communities to mitigate grapevine trunk disease is an “exciting prospect” for New Zealand’s wine industry, says Dr Hayley Ridgway.
Lincoln University says a more food-secure system would give Kiwis greater access to food while meeting export targets.
More than 260 people gathered at Muller Station in Marlborough recently to celebrate the 2024 Westpac + OsGro Marlborough Farmer of the Year winner.
RWNZ has opened nominations for the position of a North Island board member.
New student research from the University of Canterbury in partnership with Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) could improve knowledge surrounding the risk of wildfire.
Mechanical weeding is exploding in Europe because increasing resistance means they have "run out of herbicide", says Canterbury agronomist Charles Merfield.
The ongoing rise of the Chinese middle class will drag up demand for New Zealand products there in the future.
New Zealand’s free trade deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has now been signed.
OPINION: The end-of-year booze-up at the posh Northern Club in Auckland must have been a beauty, as the legal 'elite'…
OPINION: It divides opinion, but the House has passed the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill.
