AWARDS FINALIST: Lightyears Solar – Powering communities

Lightyears Solar says its focus on local partnerships is supporting rural economies, preserving farmland and delivering clean energy where it's needed most.

Each project typically employs 10 to 12 local contractors, keeping investment local and adding depth to local capability.

The smaller scale of its projects, coupled with the company's land-leasing policy and its Agri-PV approach, is helping keep rural land productive while also providing a new revenue stream for landowners.

Lightyears uses local labour and services for everything from fencing and planting to electrical work and environmental planning, with the aim of supporting the regional economy and reducing risk.

Waingawa

It also ensures that each project is tailored to the unique needs of that local community and is shaped by the knowledge within it.

Lightyears' Waingawa solar farm project in Wairarapa involved more than a dozen local contractors and now generates enough electricity to power approximately 1130 homes annually.

It typically supplies 75 per cent of the electricity going through the local substation and at times has met 100 per cent of that local power need.

Lightyears says that, across its three operating solar farms, the dual land-use allowed by its agri-PV approach has kept 17 hectares of farmland in use.

Community

The three projects are generating about 13,721 megawatt-hours of clean electricity a year - enough to power almost 2000 homes in rural communities that often experience energy hardship or unreliable grid supply.

Lightyears' small, agile team of 16 is deeply involved in community engagement, from the co-founders' leadership on sustainability policy to on-the-ground collaboration with landowners and local councils.

It says that the hands-on approach has built trust and transparency and is helping shift public perception of solar development away from an industrial-scale disruption towards a more community-centred opportunity.

The annual Energy Excellence Awards will be held in Wellington on 13 August. The Social Procurement Award is sponsored by Elemental Group.