Friday, 18 December 2020, 5:18 pm
A new report for MBIE[i] outlines the “economics” of
massive growth of utility-scale solar – suggesting power
companies may install some 2 to 11 gigawatts of solar by
2030. This compares to today’s total generation capacity
of 9.2 gigawatts.
In the example given on table 1, a
$190 million solar farm would cover some 533 hectares of
dairy farming country, and generate 160 peak megawatts. The
energy output would depend on the solar energy regime at the
location.
The report notes that no such plant has been
built yet in New Zealand, but costs are falling rapidly, and
the possibility of a substantial “covid subsidy” would