Project and operations updateRenewables and storage
Genesis commissions Huntly battery stage one and advances Leeston solar
Genesis Energy reported its first Huntly battery commissioned and an investment decision for the Leeston Solar Farm in its FY27 first-quarter update.
- Event
- First published on EPC Feed
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- 2 listed below
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- 2 min
Genesis Energy’s first-quarter FY27 performance report, released on 22 October, records two delivery milestones: commissioning of the first stage of its Huntly battery and a final investment decision (FID) for Leeston Solar Farm. The company rates Huntly BESS Stage 1 at 100 megawatts and 200 megawatt-hours. It said design and procurement for Stage 2 were under way, with construction expected to start in Q2 FY27. That timetable is a forecast; Stage 1 commissioning is the completed event.
The October update also puts Leeston at a more advanced point than in Genesis’s February half-year presentation. In February, the company listed the 67-megawatt-peak solar farm as consented and expected FID in Q4 FY26; its October report says FID has been reached and construction is expected to begin in Q2 or Q3 FY27. Those milestones show the project’s progression, while the construction start remains forward-looking. The February presentation put Leeston’s then-estimated cost at NZ$100–120 million. That was an earlier company estimate, not a new October contract award or updated cost, so it should not be read as current project guidance.
The half-year presentation also described Huntly Stage 1 as under construction and on track, with major equipment on site and commissioning due to start in Q4. Genesis’s October report now says it is commissioned. At that earlier reporting point, Stage 2 was consented and its FID was expected in Q4 FY26; the latest report instead says design and procurement are under way, with construction expected in Q2 FY27. Stage 2 remains distinct from the operating first stage.
For its other solar projects, Genesis said Tihori remained on budget and on track for first commercial operation in Q1 FY28, while Rangiriri was still in pre-FID development. The company reported a high national hydro-storage setting during the quarter and said lower wholesale prices led it to reduce thermal generation; thermal output was 163 gigawatt-hours, 620 GWh below the prior corresponding period. Those operating conditions are separate from the project decisions and do not establish the future economics or output of the battery or solar developments.
The announcements give different levels of certainty: Huntly Stage 1 is commissioned, Leeston has passed FID, and Stage 2 construction and Leeston construction are scheduled expectations. The releases do not announce a new engineering, procurement and construction contract, contractor, or final construction cost for either project.
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