Large-scale solar investment in Aotearoa New Zealand continues to surge, marking a pivotal shift toward a fully renewable and resilient electricity industry. Solar farms now represent the largest share of actively pursued generation projects, powering homes and communities with clean, reliable energy.
One of the standout contributors to this transformation is NewPower Energy Limited, who partnered with Robotron New Zealand to deliver the 33MWp Taiohi Solar Farm in northern Waikato. With on-site commissioning in progress, Taiohi is a landmark achievement, in the intelligent integration of solar generation into New Zealand’s wholesale electricity market.
To ensure seamless operation and market participation, Robotron deployed its advanced energy data management platform, robotron*esales, featuring real-time monitoring, forecasting, and automated market integration. The system leverages IoT data, meteorological inputs, and market analytics to optimize generation and trading decisions, enabling NewPower to maximize both performance and financial returns.
A key innovation in the project is the intelligent trading algorithm co-developed by NewPower and Robotron. The innovation combines intelligence and resilience: it factors in real-time solar farm status, planned outages, and advanced CFT forecasts to generate optimised market offers. If forecasts are unavailable, the system seamlessly switches to historical performance data, ensuring uninterrupted trading and reliable energy delivery to the network.
This marks the second major collaboration between Robotron NZ and NewPower, following the successful delivery of Rotohiko, New Zealand’s first grid-scale battery energy storage system (BESS). Together, these projects demonstrate how digital infrastructure and strategic partnerships are accelerating the energy transition.
Taiohi is more than a solar farm, it’s a model for how technology, collaboration, and vision can shape a smarter, more resilient energy future for Aotearoa.
