New Zealand needs more electricity, and fast. Economic and population growth, electric vehicles, electrification of transport and industrial processes, and the arrival of hyperscale data centres are all pushing demand higher.

To meet this demand, renewable energy generation has rapidly expanded, solar generation alone rose 66% over the past year and there are more than 250 renewable energy projects in the pipeline.

When renewable energy projects are discussed, attention naturally turns to the key aspects of any new project, including generation capacity, grid connections, technology, consenting and investment. But before electricity can flow into the grid, developers and investors need certainty over something much more fundamental: the land it operates on.

A solar farm, wind farm or battery storage project is only as strong as the property rights supporting it. As New Zealand's renewable pipeline grows, land is one of the central factors in defining how projects are valued, financed and delivered.

Property Rights: the foundation of every new project

Every renewable energy project will involve questions that sound simple, but are key to its successful delivery: who actually controls the land and what rights over the land, and any adjacent land, will the project need? The answers will depend on both the nature of the project and the results of a detailed review of the land titles, including registered interests such as mortgages, existing easements, covenants and caveats, and unregistered interests that may not appear on the title itself but can still bind a purchaser or lessee with notice of them.

The actual land areas required for the project (eg wind turbines will typically occupy a small proportion of the land area whereas solar farms require much larger land areas) and whether there is a viable dual-use of the property (eg having sheep graze under solar arrays or locating wind turbines in a forestry block), will be key considerations for land arrangements and deal structuring. Where ownership of the land title is not necessary, then the strength of the underlying lease, licence to occupy or easement instrument is as important as the title itself. Term length, rights of renewal, assignment and subletting rights, and the landowner's consent requirements over any dealings all affect whether a project has the security of tenure that lenders and investors require. Where land is held under multiple owner titles, including Māori freehold land governed by Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993, additional governance and consent requirements apply and need to be factored into both timing and structuring from the outset.

In addition, securing the property rights needed over the project site alone rarely gives a developer everything it needs to build and operate a renewable energy project. Access to the site, rights to run cables and transmission lines across neighbouring land, and rights to construct and maintain infrastructure can depend on easements or licence arrangements to be granted by a neighbouring landowner, or required as a condition of a subdivision consent. Negotiating easement or licence terms with third parties to the project are not always straightforward. Developers may need to agree the precise route and width of the easement or access area, construction timing and methodology, compensation for the neighbouring landowner, maintenance and reinstatement obligations, and whether the easement can be varied if the project's infrastructure needs change. Where an easement is granted to secure a resource consent condition, such as a condition requiring a defined access or buffer area, the easement terms need to track the consent conditions precisely so that the land rights and the consent remain aligned throughout the life of the project.

Portfolio acquisitions

A notable shift in the market is the move from single-project investments to portfolio acquisitions and development programmes.

Investors are increasingly evaluating groups of renewable projects rather than individual assets. But, as portfolios grow, so does the exposure. A defect in the property rights for one project or site, whether an unresolved caveat, a missing consent to an assignment, competing third party rights over the land or an easement that does not extend to the intended use, can affect the value of the whole portfolio if it undermines a lender's or investor's confidence in the due diligence process. Robust title review should be carried out early and consistently across every site.

We are seeing investors and lenders paying closer attention to property titles, lease structures, access rights, easements, and availability of grid connection as key indicators of value. Obtaining resource consent for a project on terms or conditions that cannot be met by the property rights that have (or have not) been secured is of little practical value. In practice, it is the property workstream that often determines whether a development project becomes investable.

Overseas investment consent timing

Where a project involves foreign investment, Overseas Investment Office (OIO) consent should not be left until after title, lease and/or easement arrangements are settled. The nature of the land can require certain actions be undertaken before the property rights are secured (such as the advertising of farm land) and/or OIO consent conditions can affect how land is to be held and dealt with. The OIO consent application needs to be run in tandem with, not after, the work of securing the property rights a project depends on.

Dual-use land: structuring overlapping property rights

Another trend shaping the sector is the growing convergence of land uses, and with it, the need to structure overlapping property interests over the same land.

Renewable projects can occupy land that already supports another productive activity. It has been common for wind and solar generation to combine land use with pastoral farming operations, and we are also seeing more wind generation on commercial forestry land. The trend is clear - developers are now looking beyond traditional farmland for suitable sites. Solar developments are often competing for potential sites with other industrial uses (eg, quarry projects or agricultural production), and new solar developers may seek to develop their project as a complementary or dual land use (and not as a replacement land use) so that they can secure strategic sites. Achieving this requires careful structuring of property rights, whether through a lease, easement or other right allowing the renewable developer to take a specific benefit from the land (such as wind or solar access) in a way that allows the other land use to be successfully operated.

This creates opportunities, but it also requires more sophisticated property solutions. One recent wind project required a structure capable of accommodating forestry operations, carbon interests and turbine infrastructure across the same landholding. The challenge was not simply securing land for the wind farm. It was creating a framework that allowed multiple long-term land uses to coexist, while preserving value for all parties under each arrangement.

These arrangements matter more as competition for strategic land intensifies.

Looking beyond the megawatts

The energy transition will continue to attract significant investment into New Zealand over the coming decade. Many of the projects now in development are larger, more complex and more capital-intensive than previous projects.

As that market matures, investors are asking more questions. Generation capacity remains important but is not the only measure of project readiness. Investor’s confidence also stems from there being a robust land position and assessing whether a project has a bankable property platform.

The projects that attract investment and reach delivery are rarely those with the most ambitious forecasts. They are the projects where land, consenting and regulatory approvals, infrastructure and capital have been aligned from the outset.

It is exciting to see through the Offshore Renewable Energy Act 2026, New Zealand’s first offshore wind project consent/permit process open for the Taranaki, Waikato and South Auckland regions. These projects come with another unique set of property considerations.

Get in touch

Our team is advising developers, investors, landowners and infrastructure operators across some of New Zealand's most significant renewable energy projects. If you would like to discuss how title, tenure, easements or overseas investment requirements may affect your project or investment strategy, get in touch with one of our Real Estate experts.

Special thanks for Eric Kwon for his assistance with this article.