Purpose Capital has partnered with Harbour Infrastructure and Tupu Tonu (Ngāpuhi Investment Fund), to provide equity funding for a 21MW solar farm project in Maungaturoto, Northland.
The site is expected to generate around 32GWh of electricity per annum, which is enough to power approximately 4,000 Kiwi homes (or 12,800 EVs) each year.
Harbour Infrastructure, the developer behind the Maungaturoto project, is a New Zealand business, established by the Kiwi founders behind Solar Bay, a leading distributed renewable energy generator in Australia. This project is their first New Zealand based, ground-mounted solar project to achieve financial close and commence construction.
Tupu Tonu, is a crown established investment fund whose mission is to acquire and grow a portfolio of high-performing commercial assets that can be offered to ngā hapū o Ngāpuhi in future Treaty negotiations, and to distribute a portion of the profits back to Ngāpuhi hapū, whānau, and uri.
The solar farm at Maungaturoto will supply electricity under a long-term offtake to Ryman Healthcare via Mercury Energy. Chint New Energy is the EPC Contractor for the project, while Aurecon has been engaged as the owner’s engineer, and Westpac is the senior debt provider.
Purpose Capital’s Investment Manager, Nick Pacey, states “In order for New Zealand to achieve our carbon reduction targets, we must decarbonise and electrify our economy, and investment into new renewable generation infrastructure is critical to this.”
“Overall, we feel this project is a well a structured impact investment with an attractive risk/return profile. ”
The importance of new generation projects like Maungaturoto is particularly obvious at present given our dwindling gas supply (a non-renewable energy source by definition), increasing electricity demand and low hydro levels due to climatic factors..
Matt Currie, Purpose Capital’s Investment Director, will take on a governance role within in the project, and states “The recent dramatic rise in wholesale electricity prices and increased burning of coal, highlights the importance of adding more renewable energy generation to compliment hydro: wind, solar and battery technology. It also demonstrates the importance for New Zealand to address energy efficiency, lowering our overall energy demand.”
Breaking ground at Maungaturoto: At the site blessing, the solar project was gifted the name Papareireiā, which refers to the rays of the sun being consumed by the whenua.
Solar generation is one of the cheapest and cleanest forms of new electricity generation while gas and coal generation are more expensive, more carbon intensive, and present higher health risks.
It’s generally accepted that increased solar generation will assist in displacing marginal generation such as coal and gas. We also expect to see hydro (traditionally baseload) shift to play more of a flexible role in smoothing intermittency from wind and solar.
Representatives of parties involved in Maungaturoto Solar Farm Project gathered after the site blessing.
At the heart of every investment, Purpose Capital is striving to drive social and environmental change in Aotearoa New Zealand and demonstrate a positive way to make investment capital work.
The outcomes which Purpose Capital is aiming to achieve with this investment are is increasing the amount of renewable energy generation and decreasing fossil fuel generation, in order to mitigate climate change.
To date, Purpose Capital has attracted over $20M of co-investment into impact investments in New Zealand taking Purpose Capital’s total assets under management to $42M.
Purpose Capital continues to seek quality impact investment opportunities and co-investment partners wanting to invest for financial return and impact.