Solar options for home in 2022

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#3460847 12-Feb-2026 08:35

Have received our first quote back -

They are recommending 14x panels, I suspect that is with our roof layout / direction (panels are facing north to north west) so our system size is limited based on this I suspect. There are two more areas facing the same direction either side of the main roof, could maybe squeeze more panels and go bigger?

They have priced with a battery (9kw) using Sigen products (6kw inverter power). Ay feedback on the Sigen products?

Thanks

Sen

HarmLessSolutions

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#3460853 12-Feb-2026 08:49

sen8or:

Have received our first quote back -

They are recommending 14x panels, I suspect that is with our roof layout / direction (panels are facing north to north west) so our system size is limited based on this I suspect. There are two more areas facing the same direction either side of the main roof, could maybe squeeze more panels and go bigger?

They have priced with a battery (9kw) using Sigen products (6kw inverter power). Ay feedback on the Sigen products?

Thanks

Sen

Looks like a reasonable deal for the price. My suggestion would be to add panels to the gable ends of the roofs either side as this would compensate for the shading at start and end of day caused by those ridges onto the 14 panel design. It looks like the eastern ridge in particular would shade the main panel array in the morning but taking note of shade lines at either end of the day will confirm my concerns I think.

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

HarmLessSolutions

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#3460856 12-Feb-2026 08:59

guyl:

WolfmanNZ:

Do you still have what the Standard user plans were? We chew through a lot of power so even with solar just tip over into standard user usage pattern.

Fixed daily fee: 285c per day

Night Import rate: 16.8c per kWh

Day Import rate: 22.2c per kWh

Export rate: 17.39c per kWh

Electricity Authority Levy: $0.0015 per import kWh

Those rates are significantly lower than what PowerEdge quoted me late last year (for Low User):

"Fixed daily fee: 120c per day (fixed for 3 years)

Night Import rate: 29.4c per kWh (fixed for 3 years) once meter is remotely upgraded

Day Import rate: 33.8c per kWh (fixed for 3 years)

Export rate: 17.39c per kWh (20c incl GST) (fixed for 3 years)

Electricity Authority Levy: $0.0015 per import kWh "

I note you're quoting GST exclusive rates but so are those I've listed above (although GST inclusive FIT is stated). Also Roy never got back to me about what times "Night" and "Day" relate to. Can you comment in this regard? Different rates are great enough to maybe correspond to network ('lines') charges. We're with Powerco in that regard.

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

dukezoid

74 posts

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#3460882 12-Feb-2026 09:44

HarmLessSolutions:

sen8or:

Have received our first quote back -

They are recommending 14x panels, I suspect that is with our roof layout / direction (panels are facing north to north west) so our system size is limited based on this I suspect. There are two more areas facing the same direction either side of the main roof, could maybe squeeze more panels and go bigger?

They have priced with a battery (9kw) using Sigen products (6kw inverter power). Ay feedback on the Sigen products?

Thanks

Sen

Looks like a reasonable deal for the price. My suggestion would be to add panels to the gable ends of the roofs either side as this would compensate for the shading at start and end of day caused by those ridges onto the 14 panel design. It looks like the eastern ridge in particular would shade the main panel array in the morning but taking note of shade lines at either end of the day will confirm my concerns I think.

+1 to putting up as many panels as you can on your northerly aspects, the cost of additional panels and mounting is not the much - you already have the installer out and height access in place. Should be able to squeeze at least 3-4 on the gables. 26 total 26*500=13kW (the Trina 500w panels are excellent and, I understand, are down to around $160+GST wholesale)

I'd recommend going for as large an inverter as you can afford. Price difference between the 6 and 10 is around 1.5-2K. Depends on your usage ofc, but it looks like a 4-bed 2-bath house so imagine usage could easily exceed 6kW

After one year of Sigen I'm impressed. Their full tech offering is not equalled by others at this stage and pricing (provided your installer does not clip ticket excessively) is compelling. They handled the single phase 8-12 kW inverter recall / replacement pretty well, comms could have been better. Sig are the only option if you to futureproof for V2G (with their bidirectional DC charger).

If you have any specific questions re Sig fire away, several of us have installs.

guyl

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#3460884 12-Feb-2026 09:52

HarmLessSolutions:

guyl:

WolfmanNZ:

Do you still have what the Standard user plans were? We chew through a lot of power so even with solar just tip over into standard user usage pattern.

Fixed daily fee: 285c per day

Night Import rate: 16.8c per kWh

Day Import rate: 22.2c per kWh

Export rate: 17.39c per kWh

Electricity Authority Levy: $0.0015 per import kWh

Those rates are significantly lower than what PowerEdge quoted me late last year (for Low User):

"Fixed daily fee: 120c per day (fixed for 3 years)

Night Import rate: 29.4c per kWh (fixed for 3 years) once meter is remotely upgraded

Day Import rate: 33.8c per kWh (fixed for 3 years)

Export rate: 17.39c per kWh (20c incl GST) (fixed for 3 years)

Electricity Authority Levy: $0.0015 per import kWh "

I note you're quoting GST exclusive rates but so are those I've listed above (although GST inclusive FIT is stated). Also Roy never got back to me about what times "Night" and "Day" relate to. Can you comment in this regard? Different rates are great enough to maybe correspond to network ('lines') charges. We're with Powerco in that regard.

Yeah, it's weird how they don't put the times for Peak and Off Peak on their Website. I emailed them, and they replied with Night is 11pm to 7am...

I wonder if the rates are different becuase of different location? I am based in Auckland....

HarmLessSolutions

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#3460892 12-Feb-2026 09:59

guyl:

Yeah, it's weird how they don't put the times for Peak and Off Peak on their Website. I emailed them, and they replied with Night is 11pm to 7am...

I wonder if the rates are different becuase of different location? I am based in Auckland....

That would make their higher "day" rate applicable right through the day as opposed to the likes of Ecotricity and Octiopus dropping back to off peak from 11am to 5pm. That being the case the spreadsheet screenshot I posted earlier will look a lot different for PowerEdge and not in a good way.

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

Sinuation

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#3460893 12-Feb-2026 10:00

They have this on the FAQ:

sen8or

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#3460894 12-Feb-2026 10:00

Our annual consumption is around 14-15kWh / year (30-35/day Summer, 45-55/day winter) +/- a bit spring and autumn.

Thanks for the comments on Sigen,

I was pleasantly surprised by the price, was expecting north of $25k. I'm prepared to spend/invest as much as necessary to get a good system without being stupid about it, theres a point of diminishing returns somewhere I'm sure.

Sinuation

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#3460897 12-Feb-2026 10:06

sen8or:

Our annual consumption is around 14-15kWh / year (30-35/day Summer, 45-55/day winter) +/- a bit spring and autumn.

Thanks for the comments on Sigen,

I was pleasantly surprised by the price, was expecting north of $25k. I'm prepared to spend/invest as much as necessary to get a good system without being stupid about it, theres a point of diminishing returns somewhere I'm sure.

If you're able, definitely oversize the inverter to 8 or even 10kw so you're covered the whole time the sun is up. Even lets you charge or export back for credits. Get a bigger inverter and slam as much panels as you can.

HarmLessSolutions

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#3460903 12-Feb-2026 10:19

Sinuation:

sen8or:

Our annual consumption is around 14-15kWh / year (30-35/day Summer, 45-55/day winter) +/- a bit spring and autumn.

Thanks for the comments on Sigen,

I was pleasantly surprised by the price, was expecting north of $25k. I'm prepared to spend/invest as much as necessary to get a good system without being stupid about it, theres a point of diminishing returns somewhere I'm sure.

If you're able, definitely oversize the inverter to 8 or even 10kw so you're covered the whole time the sun is up. Even lets you charge or export back for credits. Get a bigger inverter and slam as much panels as you can.

Our consumption is not so typical as we charge 2 EVs & battery garden tools, diverter controlled HWC, pumped house water and on the minus side heating is log fire. That said our consumption for the last 12 months was 11,500 kWh (which included builders power tools for a major renovation). Our total generating capacity here is projected at somewhere north of 18,000 kWh. (Total capacity went online in June 2025).

Also the array we have on our house roof is 5 kW which is solely exported and generates ~7,500 kWh/year. We saw very similar generation from the 5 kW set-up we had at our previous property, and in both cases they were north facing with near optimal tilt and minimal shading.

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

timmmay

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#3460907 12-Feb-2026 10:23

sen8or:

Have received our first quote back -

They are recommending 14x panels, I suspect that is with our roof layout / direction (panels are facing north to north west) so our system size is limited based on this I suspect. There are two more areas facing the same direction either side of the main roof, could maybe squeeze more panels and go bigger?

They have priced with a battery (9kw) using Sigen products (6kw inverter power). Ay feedback on the Sigen products?

If you can time shift your power usage, which isn't difficult for hot water, heating, cooling, laundry, and if you get a reasonably decent feed in rate, the battery may never pay for itself. With 14 panels you'll probably use most of what you generate with a bit of peak export. I'd drop the battery and add more panels if practical.

I wouldn't super size the inverter. If you have 10kw of panels, 8kw inverter is plenty. We have 9kw panels and 6kw Sigen inverter, some panels north facing some west facing, on a sunny day at midday we're getting 5.7 - 6.2kw output. I suspect the Sigen limiting the generation because its capacity is a little small and it's getting up to 60 degrees, I know a fan is something that can fail but I wonder if having an inverter with a fan that turns on when required would be a good idea. Otherwise the Sigen seems fine.

dukezoid

74 posts

Master Geek
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#3460909 12-Feb-2026 10:23

Sinuation:

sen8or:

Our annual consumption is around 14-15kWh / year (30-35/day Summer, 45-55/day winter) +/- a bit spring and autumn.

Thanks for the comments on Sigen,

I was pleasantly surprised by the price, was expecting north of $25k. I'm prepared to spend/invest as much as necessary to get a good system without being stupid about it, theres a point of diminishing returns somewhere I'm sure.

If you're able, definitely oversize the inverter to 8 or even 10kw so you're covered the whole time the sun is up. Even lets you charge or export back for credits. Get a bigger inverter and slam as much panels as you can.

100% agree.

Sig pricing is pretty sharp as they hit significant scale /market share. Pricing off an AU supplier. JA Russell wholesale to your installer will be another 10-20% higher I'd guess.

The new 10kWh battery is ~$5K

(edit: tables don't past in well)

sen8or

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#3460926 12-Feb-2026 10:45

Have gone back asking for quote with 24-26 panels, 10kw inverter and price with and without battery.

Is solar a fairly specialised field or could "sam the sparky" do it?

HarmLessSolutions

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#3460941 12-Feb-2026 11:02

sen8or:

Have gone back asking for quote with 24-26 panels, 10kw inverter and price with and without battery.

Is solar a fairly specialised field or could "sam the sparky" do it?

From our experience skilled installers with a proven history in the solar landscape are crucial to getting optimum design and ongoing support.

Our installer has >15 years experience in Germany, Aussie and now NZ. His knowledge is impressive and his experience means that every curve ball is nothing new to him and so easily solved. He is also part of the crew onsite for installations.

In contrast I had a stand up argument with our earlier installer trying to impress on him how limiting the proposed 8.2 kW inverter upgrade to comply with phase export caps couldn't be done without physical comms to a CT clamp 30+m away without compromising 7 kW EV charging along the route. I had also failed to extract usable info from the same guy in order to access real time monitoring of the 5 kW SMA inverter we were running up until then. That installer also outsources his installation to a 3rd party contractor.

Our current installer is today in Zoom conference with Fronius in Australia during which he plans to raise the issue of Fronius updates not solving the 5 kW export cap that we are still stuck with. Our earlier installer would be totally out of his depth in the same situation.

Also as I understand it the electrical regs are in the process of introducing a special registration category for solar installation, particularly due to the complications and safety issues involved in dealing with HV DC circuits.

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

Paul1977

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#3460956 12-Feb-2026 11:29

Sinuation:

They have this on the FAQ:

That's PowerEdge right?

I'm pretty sure Christchurch is Orion, if so then the night rates starting at 9pm is good for us (especially in the peak of Summer and Winter for evening cooling and heating). I've contacted PowerEdge for Christchurch pricing so I can do some better ROI calculations and see if that rules a battery out entirely.

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