48 | Enhancing land use opportunities Tamata Hauhā exists to empower family and landowners by providing funding, strategies, advice, and options to develop their land and enhance their current land-use operations. Below, Robin Paratene. Tamata Hauhā T T Richard Loader REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Founded by Blair Jamieson (CEO) and Lance Iwikau in 2021, Tāmata Hauhā exists to empower family and landowners by providing funding, strategies, advice, and options to develop their land and enhance their current land-use operations. Blair and Lance, along with Robin Paratene, who joined the business in 2022 as GM Solar & Energy, had previously worked for the Ministry of Primary Industries as the management team within the Māori Agri-business directorate, which was focused on increasing productivity of Māori land. Robin says Tāmata Hauhā supports landowners to increase productivity of their non-productive land through a permanent mixed-species forestry programme, to earn an income utilising the emissions trading scheme (ETS). “We have independent investor backing behind us that enables us to make that happen, without being dependent on government funding. Tāmata Hauhā provides all the funding and ongoing management, while the landowner provides the land and co-designs their own outcomes. “While Tāmata Hauhā is Māori-focused, we’re not Māori-exclusive. We work with farmers, families and communities both Māori and non-Māori. Our programme does adopt a Māori framework, which is useful for Māori land owners who are considering this opportunity as an option. The plantations are not exclusively pine, and could exclude pine.” Tāmata Hauhā now has over 3000ha of carbon forestry planted, with another 2000ha in the pipeline for this year’s planting season. “Tāmata Hauhā had a pretty successful couple of years and we went back to our investors and said we had opportunities to develop a solar partnership with Regener8 Power UK, and Pacific Channel. Those three entities combined make up Tūmanako Rānui, which was officially launched in January this year and is focused on large-scale solar developments. It works with the Tāmata Hauhā philosophy around emissions reduction, carbon sequestration and finding solutions that address global warming.” Robin says since its launch there have been 44 pipeline conversations with landowners, resulting in 14 strong conversations with a pipeline of 665ha. “So, we’re keeping really good pace, learning quick and finding new opportunities for solar developments within New Zealand. There are two key drivers for developing solar farms –economic and environmental. There are economic opportunities both for our investors and for the communities that we work in. There are many options, but the most common model is a long-term lease arrangement with landowners providing strong annual rentals. It’s interesting when you compare that with farming returns – it’s definitely an attractive offer. Farming fluctuates too strongly at the moment and it is a bit off a struggle for our farming communities.” Robin acknowledges that there are challenges with solar-farm development regarding timely grid connections, particularly when you get up to a large scale. “You can build a solar farm, however large-scale, complex connections through Transpower may take longer than three years to commission,, and it can be a bottleneck in the solar development space.” Crowley Waugh barristers & solicitors When it comes to making the big calls, make sure your first call is the right one. P: 06 345 3844 | e: reception@crowleywaugh.co.nz | www.crowleywaugh.co.nz Civil & Employment • Criminal Law Property & Commercial • Family Law www.capturesigns.co.nz PROUD TO SUPPORT Tamata Hauha
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