Solar options for home in 2022

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Solar options for home in 2022 - 2026

1 | ... | 118 | 119 | 120 | 121 | 122 | 123 | 124 | 125 | 126 | 127 | 128 | ... | 149

126 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 71

ID Verified

Subscriber

#3459038 5-Feb-2026 11:50

Shindig:

guyl:

sommot:

Hi my parents are looking to install solar to cut down on their power bill. They are looking at a system without batteries as they are at home during the day. The house is going to get reclad with a roof replacement so they're wanting to get the solar installed while the scaffolding is up. Can anyone recommend a good solar company in Auckland that they've had dealt with on their own solar installs? Thanks.

I used Avid Solar at the end of last year. Nice small company, with the owner doing the install himself with a team. 20 panels, a PW3 and Tesla charger all installed in 1 day. The system has been running great...

Kenan is a top bloke. Great to chat to him.

Any chance give an indication of price please?

No problem. Mine was a bit on the high side, as I specifically wanted the Power Wall (Could have gone for a cheaper battery). All up installed with the car charger as well (And I went with the Tesla Gateway) was around $32k. System size is 9.6kw (Although I have seen it go as high as 11!). I used an ANZ Healthy Homes loan at 1% over 3 years....

fastbike

448 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 322

#3459053 5-Feb-2026 12:37

MadEngineer:

Another thing to be weary of is the installers that are bashing the installs out as fast as they can to make a start on the next job. Not only are they using junk cable clips but the panel rails aren’t all level and even. My installer used his grandads string plumb line - you can’t assume for example that the existing roof screws are all even and rely on them as a reference for keeping things straight

Agreed. I did the mechanical install on our two roofs which are monopitch but curved so special attention was needed to ensure the panels were coplanar.

Otautahi Christchurch

fastbike

448 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 322

#3459054 5-Feb-2026 12:44

sen8or:

Can someone share real world experience from a solar install in Lincoln / Christchurch area -

Size of System (# of panels etc)

Do you have a battery?

How much electricity from the network do you use each season? Rough elec bill costs?

Type of heating / cooling etc?

We have a 3 brm house, elec hot water, x2 8kw ducted heat pumps

Where the pin is is broadly northerly facing.

With the recent increases in pricing (and they aren't ever going to get cheaper), am thinking a green loan to get a system installed might be the right time.

Thanks

Sen

I'd recommend chatting to Will from Grenz electrical. He did my PV and lives in Templeton. He's also done an install for a work colleague

We have 27x440W panels on the house with a 10kW hybrid inverter, and another 14 panels on a stand alone garage (these pretty much export most of the year)

We have a 8kW + 5kW heatpump running off one outside unit, we have solar thermal hot water with a electric immersion backup element. Cooking is electric except for a gas hob.

The house is modern but quite large so takes a fair bit to heat over the two colder winter months - otherwise it is mostly self heating from the sun.

I posted generation and consumption plus import/export figures a couple of pages back

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=141&topicid=300644&page_no=119#3450113

Otautahi Christchurch

dantheperson

226 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 63

#3459106 5-Feb-2026 16:37

Has anyone had any luck with Harrisons getting their inverter settings updated as per the new regulations? My installer has moved on from Harrisons and despite asking customer care a couple times no one has got back to me. I just called customer care now and they didn't know anything about the regulation changes, but are gonna pass it onto the technical team who hopefully do.

HarmLessSolutions

1230 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 812

Subscriber

#3459108 5-Feb-2026 16:43

dantheperson:

Has anyone had any luck with Harrisons getting their inverter settings updated as per the new regulations? My installer has moved on from Harrisons and despite asking customer care a couple times no one has got back to me. I just called customer care now and they didn't know anything about the regulation changes, but are gonna pass it onto the technical team who hopefully do.

What brand of inverter do you have? One of ours is an 8.2 kW Fronius that our installer has updated the settings twice to allow it to export fully rather than a 5 kW cap but it has made no difference so far. Our installer is now waiting on Fronius for a solution as he has a number of customers with Fronius inverters in a similar situation.

The updates made to voltage parameters (to 230V +/-10%) worked fine but not the case for phase cap settings.

https://www.harmlesssolutions.co.nz/

dantheperson

226 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 63

#3459114 5-Feb-2026 17:04

HarmLessSolutions:

What brand of inverter do you have? One of ours is an 8.2 kW Fronius that our installer has updated the settings twice to allow it to export fully rather than a 5 kW cap but it has made no difference so far. Our installer is now waiting on Fronius for a solution as he has a number of customers with Fronius inverters in a similar situation.

The updates made to voltage parameters (to 230V +/-10%) worked fine but not the case for phase cap settings.

Fronius Gen24. I'm only 5kW so the phase cap doesn't apply. It's just the high voltages in summer, so the extra 10 volts tolerance should help. Seems particularly bad on the weekends, maybe Vector are more active managing the network during the week?

This day last month, perfect blue sky all day no cloud in sight, so the production curve should have matched the niwa charts. But instead we had 8 reboots due to 1117 Long-term mains voltage limit exceeded, and significant curtailment from about 10:30 to 15:30

HarmLessSolutions

1230 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 812

Subscriber

#3459117 5-Feb-2026 17:19

dantheperson:

HarmLessSolutions:

What brand of inverter do you have? One of ours is an 8.2 kW Fronius that our installer has updated the settings twice to allow it to export fully rather than a 5 kW cap but it has made no difference so far. Our installer is now waiting on Fronius for a solution as he has a number of customers with Fronius inverters in a similar situation.

The updates made to voltage parameters (to 230V +/-10%) worked fine but not the case for phase cap settings.

Fronius Gen24. I'm only 5kW so the phase cap doesn't apply. It's just the high voltages in summer, so the extra 10 volts tolerance should help. Seems particularly bad on the weekends, maybe Vector are more active managing the network during the week?

This day last month, perfect blue sky all day no cloud in sight, so the production curve should have matched the niwa charts. But instead we had 8 reboots due to 1117 Long-term mains voltage limit exceeded, and significant curtailment from about 10:30 to 15:30

Our biggest issues with voltage were in the weekends. Apparently the demand drop with many commercial customers is to blame there. None the less, the issue appears to have been solved by the inverter settings changes, with a little help from our local transformer being tapped down just before Xmas. The tech who installed a logger, and then tapped the Txer, reported seeing voltage logged as high as 253V!

https://www.harmlesssolutions.co.nz/

Jase2985

13735 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6217

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3459459 7-Feb-2026 12:23

@dantheperson do you have the technician login/password to the Fronius? this doesnt let you change the setting but its a start.

dantheperson

226 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 63

#3459499 7-Feb-2026 16:55

Jase2985:

@dantheperson do you have the technician login/password to the Fronius? this doesnt let you change the setting but its a start.

No i only have the customer login.

HarmLessSolutions

1230 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 812

Subscriber

#3459502 7-Feb-2026 17:10

dantheperson:

Jase2985:

@dantheperson do you have the technician login/password to the Fronius? this doesnt let you change the setting but its a start.

No i only have the customer login.

Worth noting that our Fronius Primo 8.2 was displaying "Error state 567" on the LCD display which was a clue that all was not well following a HV transformer installation down the road. That error number apparently relates to grid frequency (i.e. voltage) issues and was showing almost continuously prior to us updating the voltage parameter settings and Powerco tapping down our local LV transformer.

https://www.harmlesssolutions.co.nz/

Rmani

295 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 98

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3460144 10-Feb-2026 10:43

I'm planning to install solar. Any recommended installers in Wellington? I did visit the website (seanz) suggested by @HarmLessSolutions. However, it gives me a long list of companies, unsure whom to go with.

Family of 4 with a PHEV car, if that helps.

Any help is much appreciated.

Rmani

HarmLessSolutions

1230 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 812

Subscriber

#3460148 10-Feb-2026 11:36

Yet another battery technology on the horizon and this one has actually gone into the commercial production and deployment stages. No mention of a domestic scale unit but if this was available I'd imagine the pricing would be pretty attractive.

https://www.harmlesssolutions.co.nz/

Paul1977

5171 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2192

#3460161 10-Feb-2026 12:32

Another person here looking to install solar in Christchurch.

Harrisons were around yesterday and will be sending pricing through later in the week. Mainly looking at Harrisons because of the Aiko panels.

He suggested 16 panels and (I think) 8kW inverter if not going with a battery. I had been thinking of "oversizing" with 24 panels on a 10kW inverter to sell more excess back to the grid (and to generate more in winter), but he said that if oversizing it's better to do a battery as well. I'm just not convinced on ROI of a battery, and I'm not entirely clear why they'd suggest not oversizing if you don't have a battery? Will the battery realistically pay for itself before it needs replacing? And 13.5kWh doesn't sound like a lot of battery capacity to me (especially when that will drop as it ages)?

Our biggest power draw is our ducted heat pump, which is used during the day and evening for heating or cooling in Summer and Winter. Autumn and Spring is used a lot less. In Summer often don't put cooling on until after lunch. In Winter heating might be on all day (either turned down, or off, overnight and set to crank back up before we wake).

We have gas hot water & hobs and aren't realistically looking to change to electric in the short or medium term.

So, what are people's thoughts about oversizing without a battery?

Thanks

Paul

EDIT: Forgot to mention, they are suggesting a Tesla Powerwall 3 for the battery.

kangaroo13

87 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 90

#3460189 10-Feb-2026 13:21

Paul1977:

Another person here looking to install solar in Christchurch.

Harrisons were around yesterday and will be sending pricing through later in the week. Mainly looking at Harrisons because of the Aiko panels.

He suggested 16 panels and (I think) 8kW inverter if not going with a battery. I had been thinking of "oversizing" with 24 panels on a 10kW inverter to sell more excess back to the grid (and to generate more in winter), but he said that if oversizing it's better to do a battery as well. I'm just not convinced on ROI of a battery, and I'm not entirely clear why they'd suggest not oversizing if you don't have a battery? Will the battery realistically pay for itself before it needs replacing? And 13.5kWh doesn't sound like a lot of battery capacity to me (especially when that will drop as it ages)?

Our biggest power draw is our ducted heat pump, which is used during the day and evening for heating or cooling in Summer and Winter. Autumn and Spring is used a lot less. In Summer often don't put cooling on until after lunch. In Winter heating might be on all day (either turned down, or off, overnight and set to crank back up before we wake).

We have gas hot water & hobs and aren't realistically looking to change to electric in the short or medium term.

So, what are people's thoughts about oversizing without a battery?

Thanks

Paul

EDIT: Forgot to mention, they are suggesting a Tesla Powerwall 3 for the battery.

That seems like a fairly high-spec'ed system.

We installed a system in Christchurch last August: 6.3kW of panels (Hyundai Solar) onto a 5kW grid-tied inverter (Solis) with a Catch smart relay on the the hot water. We went with Sunrise Solar, and have been quite happy. Price very competitive, and during the early specification and quote phase they were also more open about the various options they could use - willing to share a breakdown of the different options for different components, datasheets etc., rather than trying to just present a complete quote from OpenSolar, as many of the others do. We had some teething problems with the inverter, and they were quite responsive getting that sorted. I probably wouldn't go with Solis again.

I agree with the sentiment that RoI on a battery is hard to justify at the moment.

Oversizing panels I think is a good strategy, and currently the FiT at 17c/kWh is reasonably generous (compared to Australia, for example), making the economics of a battery difficult.

Check what export limit you may have - it may be 5kW (though things may be changing). That may make a 8 or 10kW inverter pointless. It may also be the reasoning behind the installer's comment about including a battery with a larger install - as you'd be wasting a lot of energy if you are not permitted to export it.

I would definitely look at some sort of control on your hot water (and possibly other big loads). I was disappointed with Harissons in that they were advocating a simple dumb timer on the hot water, rather than something a bit more intelligent such as a Catch Relay or a SunStash diverter. They told me the Catch Relay was unnecessarily expensive, and gave me an indicative price roughly double what I ended up paying for the Catch. Overall Harissons pricing was considerably higher. The Catch Relay has been working well for us, and I'm getting a second house done with a SunStash, as it has a smaller roof, and thus fewer panels so a diverter will be more effective in winter. This time with 12 x 455kW Hyundai panels into a 5kW SigEnergy hybrid inverter, also with Sunrise.

HarmLessSolutions

1230 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 812

Subscriber

#3460206 10-Feb-2026 13:34

Agree on the viability of batteries. Their cost must be compared to the price differential between FIT and supply charge for electricity. It takes way too many hours for that comparison to equate for most home owners and is the reason our installer advised against batteries for us based on our consumption model. We generate well over double what we consume on an annual basis and by solar diversion on our EV charging and HWC controller (Paladin) much of our consumption is directly met by own generation in real time.

Also if your system is such that you export significant quantities take a close look at which supplier you choose. For us the front runners are PowerEdge or Ecotricity (our choice) who both pay GST on their FITs. In Ecotricity's case on its EcoSolar plan its peak period FIT is just over 24c and we move our consumption away from (and export to) peak times to gain maximum advantage from this.

https://www.harmlesssolutions.co.nz/

1 | ... | 118 | 119 | 120 | 121 | 122 | 123 | 124 | 125 | 126 | 127 | 128 | ... | 149