Maniototo’s Fennessy Rd will soon be legalised ahead of an energy company’s plans to establish a solar farm in the area.

Helios plans to construct a solar farm on land off Fennessy Rd, a process that would involve running electricity from the site and out to the wider network via an underground cable.

However, while researching its plans, Helios realised the road, as formed, did not sit within the bounds of the legal road.

Encroachment of the formed road through the upper half of the start of Fennessy Rd. IMAGE: CODC

While the first 2.2 kilometres of Fennessy Rd is well formed, over two thirds of it encroaches onto neighbouring farmland. 

Less significant encroachments of the formed road occur at the corner before, and adjacent to the nearby Transpower substation. 

The issue was discussed at the recent Maniototo Community Board meeting, where it was decided it would legalise the start of Fennessy Rd, as formed, and stop part of the unformed legal road, in accordance with a range of conditions.

An info graphic illustrates how the proposed solar farm would work. IMAGE: Supplied/Helios

Those conditions include Helios paying all easement and surveying costs and Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) fees, while Central Otago District Council (CODC) would pay LINZ accredited supplier’s costs.

Each party would pay their own legal fees.

The estimated cost to council would be about $8500 and Helios would need to spend about $20,000.

Helios senior environmental planner Sarah Brooks said the organisation was pleased to hear the community board was in support of the concept.

The consent application for the proposed solar farm has been filed and Helios was now working closely with CODC and other stakeholders, including Transpower, while awaiting notification.

“While we're continuing to make good progress, we don't have a definitive date for notification at this stage, and timeframes around construction are contingent on first achieving resource consent,” she said.

The selected site for the solar farm, between Naseby and Ranfurly, will be leased from two local farming families, covering 660 hectares of unirrigated land.

It will generate enough clean electricity to power the equivalent of 70,000 homes annually.

The land will continue to be used for farming, including grazing of stock under and around the solar panels.