High-value hort crops to feature on energy farm

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.”