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With 27 centre-pivot irrigators and five dairy sheds, this large Central Otago farm has a substantial appetite for electricity. Each summer brings a sharp increase in electricity consumption and power bills running into the tens of thousands. Investing in solar was an opportunity to protect the operation against rising energy costs.
OPR had long served the farm’s electrical needs, giving our team a strong understanding of it's infrastructure. The farm’s own private high-voltage network presented an opportunity to distribute solar generation across the operation from one central installation.
That opportunity, paired with our growing interest in renewables, became one of OPR Solar’s debut projects: a 1 megawatt solar farm.
The selected site offered space for the installation, but preparing it was no small undertaking. Significant earthworks removed debris and levelled the area, revealing the next challenge beneath the surface: river stones, and plenty of them. These unforgiving ground conditions made piling difficult and became a defining challenge of the build.
Before array construction began, we established the electrical infrastructure. An adjacent 300 kVA transformer, previously serving a 90 kW submersible bore pump, was upgraded to 1 MVA. This created the connection point to the private network, allowing solar generation to supply loads across the farm before surplus electricity flowed to the main grid.
At the centre of the solar farm, a new slab and 1,600 A switchboard were installed, connected to the new transformer. Ten large supply cables were then run to each of the Fimer PVS-100 inverters positioned throughout the site.
With the electrical backbone established, construction progressed through the steel S-Rack mounting system and installation of over 1,900 Astronergy modules. Despite the difficult piling conditions, the array took shape, transforming the cleared site into a productive energy asset.
Commissioned in mid-2023, the system has generated more than 4.23 GWh of electricity to date or over 4.23 million kilowatt-hours. It now provides an on-site source of renewable energy for a farming operation with significant seasonal demand.
For OPR Solar, this was a milestone that helped shape the company we are today. Building on an established electrical relationship, we delivered a large-scale solar project that strengthened our experience and laid the foundation for the many megawatts of PV we have installed since.