The Gordon Cattle and Solar Farm is hosting an open day next week, marking the official opening of the first stage of the Galatea Solar Tracker Project.

The installation – Clenergy’s first ezTracker D1P installation in Australia and New Zealand – generates solar energy during the day while allowing cattle to continue grazing beneath.

Delivered for the Gordon family farm on Grant Road, the project demonstrates how renewable energy and dairy farming can work together to create greater value from the same piece of land.

The project is being installed by MicroPico Systems, which completed the first row in June, with 125 more rows to be installed.

In a social media post, MicroPico Systems said the tracking system had been designed to a height of 2.2 metres where the 10 hectares of paddocks covered by the solar panels could be grazed at night.

“The tracking system will park the panels at 0 degrees, which will keep them out of reach of the cows and allow them to graze the pasture.

“The cows will be removed from the solar farm area before sunrise and the system will automatically adjust the panels to track the sun during the day to optimise the full potential of generating electricity.”

The generated electricity would be injected into the local distribution network supplementing local consumption needs.

With 4.7MW DC of PV panels, it would be able to inject 3.6MW of AC power into the network.

The November 12 open day will bring together industry representatives from renewable energy, agriculture, finance, local government and the wider energy sector to showcase the project and discuss what the future of dual-purpose land use could look like.

The panellists are:

■ Cameron Luxton: A former builder and dairy farmer who now serves as an ACT MP. Drawing on his practical experiences, he advocates for hardworking New Zealanders, and focuses on championing personal responsibility, economic opportunity, and the interests of rural communities.

■ Rory Gordon: A landowner of Gordon Solar Farm, is a pioneer in Galatea and within the Fonterra Co-operative, leading an innovative approach to combining cattle farming with a nearly 5 MW solar farm on private land. Hear first-hand about his pioneering journey, lessons learned and experience bringing agrivoltaics to life.

■ Gerrard McCarthy: Director of engineering procurement contracting company MicroPico, has brought together the engineering, insurance, and construction expertise needed to turn the Gordon Solar Farm vision into reality, coordinating the key partners to deliver this innovative cattle-and-solar farming project.

■ Yuneska Harris: Head of Utility Projects at Clenergy, brings a strong foundation in structural engineering and utility-scale solar expertise, helping translate complex engineering requirements into practical, reliable solar project solutions.

Together they’ll explore the practical question: “How can we create more value from our land while continuing to support the family communities that depend on it.

For farmers, landowners or others who are curious about the future of farming, the open day provides an opportunity to hear directly from the people involved in the Galatea project and ask questions.

Open Day Programme

228 Grant Road, Galatea

■ 10am – Gates open

■ 10.45am – Welcome

■ 11am – Farmer perspective and project story

■ 11.30am – The engineering

■ 11.45am – Viewing

■ 12pm–1.30pm – Networking