Te Tairāwhiti is blessed with high sunshine hours, and challenged by severe weather events. To improve regional energy security and capacity, while diversifying Eastland Generation’s portfolio, we have a focus on developing embedded solar generation plants.
We built Tairāwhiti’s first utility-scale solar plant, Te Ihi o te Rā, and are in the planning stages with two additional sites.
Te Ihi o te Rā
Using the sun that shines on Tairāwhiti, Te Ihi o te Rā is generating, on average, 7,300MWh of renewable energy each year – enough to power the equivalent of 1,000 typical homes.
Te Ihi o te Rā has 8,000 solar panels built on 6.1 hectares of land at Gisborne Airport. It’s designed and consented to allow for the option of adding a battery energy storage system at a later stage.
The project benefited from the support and guidance of hapū Ngai Tāwhiri, who hold mana whenua over the area. They played a key role in weaving traditional wisdom into our modern approach to renewable energy, and gifted the name Te Ihi o te Rā (the rays, the essence of the sun).
“This is consistent with the enactment of kaitiakitanga (guardianship) by Ngai Tāwhiri as we strive to enhance the environmental outcomes of the rohe. From a cultural lens, I'm moved by the positive transformation occurring with our whenua and also our awa. The mauri of the wai is slowly but surely healing itself. This is an awesome collaboration.”
Regional energy resilience
Te Ihi o te Rā was commissioned in November 2023, marking an important and exciting step towards a sustainable future for Tairāwhiti.
It is also helping Eastland Generation continue to develop in-region expertise and capability in solar farm infrastructure and technology.
As part of our ambitions to develop more embedded renewable generation on the East Coast, we’ve secured two further solar sites, in Tolaga Bay/Uawa and Wairoa.
