en.Wedoany.com Reported - New Zealand electricity and gas retailer Contact Energy has completed the installation of all solar modules at the 150MW Kōwhai Park solar photovoltaic farm located at Christchurch Airport, with the project now entering its final commissioning phase.
This 168MWdc/150MWac solar photovoltaic farm, developed by Lightsource bp in partnership with Contact Energy, covers 230 hectares and is situated within the Christchurch Airport precinct. Engineering, procurement, and construction were undertaken by CHINTEC, with infrastructure services provided by Ventia. The facility is expected to generate over 275GWh of renewable energy annually and will connect to the 66kV distribution network of electricity distribution company Orion New Zealand.
The module installation milestone was achieved following construction procedures that began in late 2024. The project reached the "Golden Row" milestone in August 2025, when the first row of modules was fully installed and accepted, validating the installation process and enabling construction to scale across the remaining thousands of rows on site. With all modules now in place, Contact Energy stated that the project has entered the final commissioning phase ahead of commercial operation.
Kōwhai Park is the first solar project developed under the Lightsource bp and Contact Energy joint venture, which the companies describe as the first in a planned series of solar photovoltaic farms in New Zealand. The project's completion comes as Contact Energy accelerates its broader renewable energy project pipeline under the Contact31+ strategy announced in February 2026.
Under a NZ$525 million (US$316 million) equity financing plan, the funds are intended to advance a range of projects, including a new 200MW battery energy storage system (BESS), as well as pre-final investment decision drilling for the Tauhara 2 geothermal expansion. The financing also supports the development of the 150MWac Glorit solar photovoltaic farm on the Kaipara Coast, being progressed in partnership with Lightsource bp, with an estimated cost of NZ$305 million and a target of entering operation in the third quarter of 2028. This financing includes a fully underwritten NZ$450 million institutional placement and a NZ$75 million retail offer, completed in February 2026. At the time of the announcement, Kōwhai Park had over 50% of its solar modules installed and was on track for completion in the second quarter of 2026.
Contact Energy's battery energy storage capacity is also expanding in tandem with solar project construction. In April 2026, Contact commissioned a 200MWh battery energy storage system in New Zealand, adding grid-scale stability capacity to complement the company's growing renewable energy generation fleet.
The completion of Kōwhai Park adds to a growing pipeline of utility-scale solar projects either operational or under construction in New Zealand. As of 2022, the New Zealand market had almost no grid-scale solar installed capacity. The country's high proportion of hydroelectric generation has historically reduced the urgency for investment in new renewable energy capacity, but consecutive dry years, including the 2024 drought that led to significant wholesale electricity price increases, have accelerated the case for generation diversification. Low rainfall, declining hydro reserves, and natural gas shortages caused electricity prices to surge in 2024, prompting calls for greater generation diversity. To address this issue, the New Zealand government ordered an industry review of the installation of residential and small-to-medium-sized solar systems, aiming to reduce what it described as a "bureaucratic nightmare" that could delay approvals by months.
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