FarmGen's proprietary approach requires less steel and takes about half the time to install than a traditional ground mount system. That lowers the install cost to around $1,000 - $1,100 kW, or around 30% lower than the average rate.

It's incredibly simple, he says, and the trellis roof set-up relies on screwing piles into the ground. As it has so many anchors, there's strength in numbers and it can handle winds of up to 300 km/h.

FarmGen has also started bringing in his own batteries and, as he went to China and can cut out the middle man, he can sell at around $450 kw/h, or around half the current rate.

The batteries are guaranteed for 10,000 cycles. And while he couldn't sell one last year, there's a lot more interest now, in part because farmers are cottoning on to the resilience benefits.

He says the payback for solar alone is around four to five years for solar and six to seven with a battery.

And how do these systems go in the winter?

"There's enough sun to keep the mould off and enough rain to keep the dust off, so you don't really need to touch them."

At Fieldays, Luscombe said it had already installed 25 systems, with more than that booked in and many more discussions had at the event.

As Mike Casey says, "there no need for an LNG terminal with you. You'll solve New Zealand's energy crisis yourself, right?"

"Yeah, that's the idea."

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