The proposal was said to be the first of many in the district as a solar farm experiment takes place and it was not a Nimby argument as it was happening right in the "front yard", submitters said.
Helios is planning to build a 300MW solar farm, which would include about 550,810 solar panels mounted on tracking arrays. It would cover 23% of the 665ha site leased by the company.
The applicant gave its evidence on Tuesday at the resource consent hearing and yesterday submitters were heard. There were 181 submissions made to the application — more than 80% of them against the proposal.
Submitter Sheryl Edwards said she had real concerns about the size of the project. She said the panels would be able to be seen from all around Maniototo.
There were details missing in the application, she said. The applicant had come to an agreement with Transpower over the substation, but specific details had to be completed, she said.
"How can you do this? We had to build a commercial building in Ranfurly and went through hell to get that consent," she said.
"If we presented something that does not have everything then we would not have got the consent. I’m not sure how this is any different," she said.
She had concerns about the noise during construction and all the hard work done to pull Ranfurly and the district out of the doldrums over many years would go to waste with a large solar farm on the beautiful landscape.
Submitter Amie Pont said the project was flawed from the start.
It took time to realise how big the solar farm was going to be and now similar proposals were being made with the Maniototo becoming a testing ground.
"This proposal is detrimental to the mental health of our communities. People are sick to their stomachs of hearing about it," Ms Pont said.
She recalled the failed Project Hayes wind farm proposal, which split the community and led to people leaving the district.
Submitter Rose Voice said her family were neighbours of the solar farm and their property value would drop.
When they came to the Maniototo and wanted to buy a lifestyle property — a rarity in the district — they had to present their intentions to the community board. The solar farm did not have to do the same thing.
She also claimed as late as nine days ago Central Otago District Council chief executive Peter Kelly could not tell the community board when the Helios hearing was.
The community and her family were just being disregarded. There was not enough consultation, and it was not a rural area any more but an industrial site, she said. The applicant did not have to live beside it like she did.
Submitter Tracy Crossan said the plants suggested by Helios to screen the panels would not survive.
The plants would not grow in the suggested time Helios had come up with.
She had Irish draught horses and worried about the glare from the panels affecting them.
"It is all right for [Helios co-owner and managing director] Mr [Jeffrey] Schlichting to say he has consulted ... but he does not have to live here [or] see the impact of the project on our lives," Mrs Crossan said.
"I hate what this whole thing has done to our community."
Submitter David Brady said it was not a Nimby argument as it was happening in front yards for people to see. The proposal should have revolved around a plan change as it was turning the area into an industrial site rather than a rural one.
The hearing is scheduled to finish today.
