A proposal to develop a multi-million dollar solar farm to power 400 low-income households in Flaxmere has the initial backing of Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.

At today’s Environment and Services Committee meeting the council was asked to loan Power to the People $500,000 of the $2.7 million cost to build and operate the solar farm. The social enterprise aims to make homes warmer and reduce the cost of power to around 1,500 people.

The committee recommended the council support the proposal.

“Power to the People is a great initiative supporting lower-income households while generating environmentally friendly energy. We’re excited to get behind the enterprise, and look forward to supporting the business case that leads to these results,” says Chair of the Environment and Services Committee, Councillor Tom Belford.

“This fits perfectly with our Sustainable Homes programme, and supports our goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2040,” says Councillor Belford.

“We’re keen to support this enterprise because we’ll be reaching more people than we currently do, and we’ll be helping our Flaxmere community have drier and warmer homes. We would also welcome other community initiatives like this.” says Councillor Paul Bailey.

A full business case and debt security need to be confirmed before the loan can be granted.
The recommendation will go to the full Regional Council meeting for confirmation next Wednesday 26 June.

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