Powering a first mover in solar electricity

“Over the past five years, Lodestone Energy’s expert team has advanced the development of and grown its solar generation pipeline at pace. We are very pleased to be able to leverage our contacts and experience in global infrastructure development to assist Lodestone in their journey to build a world-class solar energy producer in New Zealand.”

Will Thomson, Director, Principal Investments

Lodestone Energy was founded to help the national effort to decarbonise New Zealand’s energy sector, aiming to develop a business that could making a meaningful contribution to the country’s electricity generation using solar energy.

As part of the company’s equity raise in 2022, Jarden Principal Investments committed approximately $22 million alongside other NZ investors, to fund the development of five initial large scale solar farms.

As Lodestone continued to progress its development pipeline, Jarden Principal Investments acted as lead investor in a follow-on raise in 2024, further committing approximately $42 million, including a significant investment from Fisher Funds, to fund the company’s next phase of projects. 

Jarden’s expertise in debt and capital markets also enabled the team to support Lodestone Energy through the complex capital raise and project financing process.

Other investors included the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), a Purpose Capital consortium, Guy Haddleton, Rod Drury, Stephen Tindall, Sam Morgan and Fady Mishriki. For the initial five sites, senior debt finance was provided by Westpac and junior debt finance from IFM Investors. ANZ has also been confirmed to provide senior debt finance for the next phase of projects.

Lodestone’s first site in Kaitaia began generating electricity in January 2024, and its sites in Edgecumbe and Waiotahe are also scheduled to complete later in the year. Development continues to progress for the fourth and fifth sites, and the company has secured consents for further sites in its development pipeline.

“There is a growing acceptance in the market that significant development of renewable energy will be required to decarbonise New Zealand. We are excited to support the delivery of this and believe that Lodestone is very well placed, as a first mover in the solar space, to build a business of considerable size and scale,” says Michael Walmsley, Director at Principal Investments.