Christchurch Airport switches on the South Island's largest solar farm — 300,000 panels beside the runway

Airports are hungry places, and Christchurch Airport has decided to feed itself sunshine. Its Kōwhai Park solar farm — the largest on New Zealand's South Island — was officially opened by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon: about 300,000 panels across 230 hectares, rated at 150 MWac (168 MWdc), and expected to generate about 275 GWh a year, roughly the annual demand of 36,000 homes. The NZ$273 million (about $164 million) project is a joint venture between Contact Energy and Lightsource bp; dairy company Synlait will buy a quarter of the output, and 235 people were employed at the construction peak, with 66 Canterbury businesses involved.

SDG 7 · Affordable and clean energy — Mechanism: infrastructure build