Solar options for home in 2022

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#3463641 22-Feb-2026 14:25

https://archive.is/20260217182202/https://www.thepost.co.nz/business/360950502/energy-minister-backs-rural-solar-power-costs-bite-rural-businesses

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

HarmLessSolutions

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#3463642 22-Feb-2026 14:36

kangaroo13:

HarmLessSolutions:

Wouldn't it be great if the government provided support for domestic solar uptake to the degree they are for these farmers.

https://www.thepost.co.nz/business/360950502/energy-minister-backs-rural-solar-power-costs-bite-rural-businesses

Unfortunately, that's behind a paywall, and I've been unable to find the details elsewhere - can someone with access please post the pertinent details? How does it compare to the 30% solar and battery rebate for residential solare in Australia?

I've always thought just making it GST free would be logical. Social benefit by contributing to the grid would justify a tax-free status. 15% should be enough to incentivise and help build the market. 30%, per Australia, seems to have overdone it, causing cash-up people to over-build (and taking up the funds that arguably would be better being spread around those less able to pay big upfront capex to reduce power costs ...)

I'm of the opinion that NZ has a pure and simple GST structure and to start dropping illegibility for certain things just risks complicating it and attracts avoidance by misusing those exceptions.

Mike Casey puts up a pretty good case for domestic solar in NZ utilising financing options. The numbers stack up well but the barrier may well be Kiwi's instinctual distaste for credit systems.

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

richms

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#3463643 22-Feb-2026 15:04

It should be a tax rebate, not screwing with GST on things that are sold by retailers.

But whenever things are subsidized the prices go up, and flybynight operators jump in to cash in on it.

Richard rich.ms

fastbike

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#3463647 22-Feb-2026 15:34

HarmLessSolutions:

Wouldn't it be great if the government provided support for domestic solar uptake to the degree they are for these farmers.

https://www.thepost.co.nz/business/360950502/energy-minister-backs-rural-solar-power-costs-bite-rural-businesses

From The Article

The Electricity Authority says since 2023, 247 megawatts of grid connected solar has been installed in New Zealand, but it’s still a small proportion of total generation. From mid-October 2025 grid-connected solar has contributed between 1% and 2% of total supply, though the authority expects connected solar to triple by 2028.

It's interesting that the EA gives a figure, which given the nature of behind the meter consumption is a "reckin". There were figures in this thread a month ago showing most people had a high percentage of self consumption.

Otautahi Christchurch

HarmLessSolutions

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#3463653 22-Feb-2026 16:22

fastbike:

It's interesting that the EA gives a figure, which given the nature of behind the meter consumption is a "reckin". There were figures in this thread a month ago showing most people had a high percentage of self consumption.

Getting an accurate quantity of installed distributed generation is not easy. The 247 MW stated by EA is a long way short of the 665 MW stated by CFOtech as of September 2025. No matter what the total installed capacity is its impact on the grid is dictated by numerous factors including self consumption rate (offsetting import & effecting export), actual generation rates attained allowing for shading, sub-optimal installed aspect, panel maintenance, phase export caps and some systems being off grid.

Judging from my own experience over 14 years and for two different properties and multiple iterations my estimate would be that average export rates would be close to 50% of total generation. Battery storage systems can be significantly better for self consumption but there will be a large proportion of non-battery systems that struggle to hit 50% self consumption.

Worth noting too that the market structure currently act as a disincentive to DG export due to low FITs and in addition rising supply prices including lines charges serve to incentivise grid disconnection, especially as battery prices reduce and V2G approaches.

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

kangaroo13

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#3463677 22-Feb-2026 16:43

HarmLessSolutions:

kangaroo13:

...

I've always thought just making it GST free would be logical. Social benefit by contributing to the grid would justify a tax-free status. 15% should be enough to incentivise and help build the market. 30%, per Australia, seems to have overdone it, causing cash-up people to over-build (and taking up the funds that arguably would be better being spread around those less able to pay big upfront capex to reduce power costs ...)

I'm of the opinion that NZ has a pure and simple GST structure and to start dropping illegibility for certain things just risks complicating it and attracts avoidance by misusing those exceptions.

...

Mike Casey puts up a pretty good case for domestic solar in NZ utilising financing options. The numbers stack up well but the barrier may well be Kiwi's instinctual distaste for credit systems.

OK - I agree. Not 'GST exempt' as such. But a government rebate of 15%, making it equivalent in value to the GST.

Re: financing: Probably because it always seems to be the banks that win out with any sort of credit arrangement. So - too right, unless I was adding it to another loan (e.g. I needed to tkae out a mortgage to build a new house), I would not take out a loan to put on solar, even if the financials looks appealing. If it was a government-backed incentive, then they'll have to be subsidising the loan providers - presumably the banks - in some way to provide favourable loan terms, and you can be sure they'll have their snouts in the trough.

Personally - the financials stack up pretty well on their own merit for panels at least. I estimate about 7hrs payback for the two systems I've installed (with my own money). But I think it would be great if it was more accessible to more people, and we had greater penetration of not only residential but also business solar installations (a new Mitre10 has opened nearby, with an expansive roof. It is a shame there isn't a single solar panel installed ... missed opportunity). Batteries at the moment are harder to justify financially, at least for the properties I've been involved with.

kangaroo13

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#3463724 23-Feb-2026 08:55

HarmLessSolutions:

https://archive.is/20260217182202/https://www.thepost.co.nz/business/360950502/energy-minister-backs-rural-solar-power-costs-bite-rural-businesses

Great - so that's about 20% govt subsidy, with this business achieving high self-consumption and predicting payback in 4-5 years (which presumably includes the battery mentioned in the article). That sounds very appealing, and hopefully something the rural sector gets on board with.

HarmLessSolutions

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#3463726 23-Feb-2026 09:04

kangaroo13:

HarmLessSolutions:

https://archive.is/20260217182202/https://www.thepost.co.nz/business/360950502/energy-minister-backs-rural-solar-power-costs-bite-rural-businesses

Great - so that's about 20% govt subsidy, with this business achieving high self-consumption and predicting payback in 4-5 years (which presumably includes the battery mentioned in the article). That sounds very appealing, and hopefully something the rural sector gets on board with.

This set-up that our installer did has a projected 5 year ROI. Must be contagious too because a few of the neighbours have put their hands up for similar.

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

MikeAqua

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#3463727 23-Feb-2026 09:16

kangaroo13:

OK - I agree. Not 'GST exempt' as such. But a government rebate of 15%, making it equivalent in value to the GST.

GST is actually only 13% of the inclusive price. If something cost 100 + GST the inclusive price is 115, of which 15 is GST. 15/115 * 100% = 13%

Mike

EgorNZ

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#3463728 23-Feb-2026 09:22

HarmLessSolutions:

Getting an accurate quantity of installed distributed generation is not easy. The 247 MW stated by EA is a long way short of the 665 MW stated by CFOtech as of September 2025.

The 247 MW figure was the increase since 2023 whereas 665 MW was the total installed capacity. That's fast growth!

It's a shame that 20% subsidy is only open to a few agribusinesses selected by EECA to participate in a project to create "case studies". This government is allergic to doing anything that even remotely promotes renewables so I expect when the project shows all the great benefits in reduced costs, increased resilience, and export competitiveness for these businesses the support will stop there.

HarmLessSolutions

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#3463743 23-Feb-2026 11:38

EgorNZ:

HarmLessSolutions:

Getting an accurate quantity of installed distributed generation is not easy. The 247 MW stated by EA is a long way short of the 665 MW stated by CFOtech as of September 2025.

The 247 MW figure was the increase since 2023 whereas 665 MW was the total installed capacity. That's fast growth!

......

That's not how the EA statement reads. Check out the first sentence "There is currently around 270 MW of installed solar generation in New Zealand."

This data from EA's own website might be what we're after. 853MW as of 31st January 2026.

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

EgorNZ

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#3463750 23-Feb-2026 12:28

HarmLessSolutions:

That's not how the EA statement reads. Check out the first sentence "There is currently around 270 MW of installed solar generation in New Zealand."

This data from EA's own website might be what we're after. 853MW as of 31st January 2026.

The +247MW growth figure is from the news story:

That 270MW total is another figure again, but it's from a release dated May 2023. So that would be the base point to which +247MW has been added since.

However that EA data site you linked to indicates the true figure is +583MW, so either the +247MW figure is outdated, or was perhaps not counting all market segments... who knows.

Very interesting to compare the curves for installed capacity and ICP count on that chart. It shows fairly steady, linear growth in installs, but the average size of new residential systems has almost doubled from 4kW to 8kW in the last ~6 years.

fastbike

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#3463751 23-Feb-2026 12:30

HarmLessSolutions:

That's not how the EA statement reads. Check out the first sentence "There is currently around 270 MW of installed solar generation in New Zealand."

This data from EA's own website might be what we're after. 853MW as of 31st January 2026.

Although keep in mind that nameplate capacity is not what actually gets delivered as utilization is usually around 19% iirc

Otautahi Christchurch

dantheperson

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#3463752 23-Feb-2026 12:31

HarmLessSolutions:

EgorNZ:

The 247 MW figure was the increase since 2023 whereas 665 MW was the total installed capacity. That's fast growth!

That's not how the EA statement reads. Check out the first sentence "There is currently around 270 MW of installed solar generation in New Zealand."

This data from EA's own website might be what we're after. 853MW as of 31st January 2026.

Note that the article on the EA website was dated 2023. So the different data sources are roughly in alignment if you take the date into account.

HarmLessSolutions

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#3463757 23-Feb-2026 13:01

EgorNZ:

HarmLessSolutions:

That's not how the EA statement reads. Check out the first sentence "There is currently around 270 MW of installed solar generation in New Zealand."

This data from EA's own website might be what we're after. 853MW as of 31st January 2026.

The +247MW growth figure is from the news story:

That 270MW total is another figure again, but it's from a release dated May 2023. So that would be the base point to which +247MW has been added since.

However that EA data site you linked to indicates the true figure is +583MW, so either the +247MW figure is outdated, or was perhaps not counting all market segments... who knows.

Very interesting to compare the curves for installed capacity and ICP count on that chart. It shows fairly steady, linear growth in installs, but the average size of new residential systems has almost doubled from 4kW to 8kW in the last ~6 years.

The graph displayed in the link I posted is interactive and the latest input was at end of January with 853MW installed at that time as I said. Interesting to see the increasing median installation sizes too as you say.

I'm guessing the steady rate of new installs may be related to installers having reached a point of competent workforce limitations.

The disparities on total installed capacity may well relate to the inconsistencies in data supplied from the various EDBs. This has been given as an excuse from Rewiring Aotearoa for the inaccuracies in their "solar Streets" interactive map when I alerted them to numerous installations I'm aware of that don't appear on that map.

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

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