Solar options for home in 2022

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94 posts

Master Geek
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#3485836 30-Apr-2026 17:35

Dairusire:

I think this is on topic for here, but would anyone be able to chime in on a company to go with in the hawkes bay (that services Hastings) who can achieve the below?

We've bought a property, about 180M/sq, 4bed, 2 bath REALLY old. Like, 1920s old.. Single roofline facing NNW and other side is SSE, so not super complex. There is zero space constraints on roof space available.

Previously in our (much new 2006 build home), we'd consume lets say up to 650-760kWh in a month through the depths of winter.

tl;dr we're wanting to get a lot done all at once.

10kw Solar
10kw of battery
Ducted heating/cooling for 6 zones (4 bedrooms, kitchen/dining area, Lounge)
Change from Gas mains (nothing else uses it. Will be decomissioned) hot water to Hot Water Heatpump, probably 250-300L tank.

So far, we've had some pretty varying quotes, and none of them are able to do this end to end, so maybe I'll need to split it up, just wanting to find efficiencies.

Also don't really know what is exactly an 'good price'. Does seem that there is a large variance between Major centers and out here in Hawkes bay I think?

The below is just the start on Solar stuff. HWC is anywhere between 8k-10k really from what I've seen.

Ducted systems, yeah 15k-21k. It is what it is.

Ohmen Electrical being just under $30k incl which is a SigenStor system, though when you compare to all the other quotes we've had, this is probably one of the more effective ones? Funnily, and annoyingly for the rest of the quotes, these guys were the only ones to do me the courtesy of actually breaking it down.

SigenStor EC10SP
SigenStor BAT 10
Gateway
24x Jinko Tiger 465w panels giving around 11.16kW

Harrisons come out the most expensive at $31.5k

Teslas Powerwall 3, with 13.5kWH of battery and 10kW inverter.
18x JA Solar 455W panels for 8.19kw
Or 18x Aiko infinite 490W panels 8.82kw generation for an additional $2400

Sunshine Solar came out at $22k with an AlphaESS system

7.2kW of generation
16x Sungrow 450W
8kW inverted (Smile-G3-S8)
12kWh of battery (x3 SMILE G3 4kWh)

SolarHub came out at $23.3k
16x Longi 475W LR7 panels
8kW PylonTech inverter
5.12kWh PylonTech battery

Lightforce Sigen system $26.5k

SigenStor BAT 10
SigenStor EC8.0SP
16x Trina 505w Panels for 8kW
Sigen Gateway

I'm gonna stop here to post this and go home from work. lol

It seems you have a wide range of quotes to different specifications to explore your options. It seems to me that you need to decide what size system you want and then adjust the quotes accordingly - upsize the smaller ones or downsize the large one. Then you are comparing apples with apples.

Another general comment - if you are not constrained by roof space, the panels are relatively cheap these days, so adding a few extra panels while the contractors are on site working on your roof to 'oversize' your array compared to inverter capacity is probably worthwhile. It will result in a small amount of clipping over summer, but it will provide much better performance in winter. Inverters can take about 50% to 100% oversized arrays (e.g. a 6kW Sigen inverter can take up to 12kW of panels).

There are some odd inverter brands in there - check their reputation (solarquotes in Australia could be a good starting point). I've never heard of Smile nor PylonTech personally.

If you have major loads, smart control of those loads through a diverter/smart relay could be considered. Classic case is a traditional HWS, but as you're specifying a heat pump, that may not be such an issue.

fastbike

488 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 368

#3485954 30-Apr-2026 20:09

Dairusire:

I think this is on topic for here, but would anyone be able to chime in on a company to go with in the hawkes bay (that services Hastings) who can achieve the below?

We've bought a property, about 180M/sq, 4bed, 2 bath REALLY old. Like, 1920s old.. Single roofline facing NNW and other side is SSE, so not super complex. There is zero space constraints on roof space available.

Previously in our (much new 2006 build home), we'd consume lets say up to 650-760kWh in a month through the depths of winter.

tl;dr we're wanting to get a lot done all at once.

10kw Solar
10kw of battery
Ducted heating/cooling for 6 zones (4 bedrooms, kitchen/dining area, Lounge)
Change from Gas mains (nothing else uses it. Will be decomissioned) hot water to Hot Water Heatpump, probably 250-300L tank.

So far, we've had some pretty varying quotes, and none of them are able to do this end to end, so maybe I'll need to split it up, just wanting to find efficiencies.

Also don't really know what is exactly an 'good price'. Does seem that there is a large variance between Major centers and out here in Hawkes bay I think?

The below is just the start on Solar stuff. HWC is anywhere between 8k-10k really from what I've seen.

Ducted systems, yeah 15k-21k. It is what it is.

Ohmen Electrical being just under $30k incl which is a SigenStor system, though when you compare to all the other quotes we've had, this is probably one of the more effective ones? Funnily, and annoyingly for the rest of the quotes, these guys were the only ones to do me the courtesy of actually breaking it down.

SigenStor EC10SP
SigenStor BAT 10
Gateway
24x Jinko Tiger 465w panels giving around 11.16kW

Harrisons come out the most expensive at $31.5k

Teslas Powerwall 3, with 13.5kWH of battery and 10kW inverter.
18x JA Solar 455W panels for 8.19kw
Or 18x Aiko infinite 490W panels 8.82kw generation for an additional $2400

Sunshine Solar came out at $22k with an AlphaESS system

7.2kW of generation
16x Sungrow 450W
8kW inverted (Smile-G3-S8)
12kWh of battery (x3 SMILE G3 4kWh)

SolarHub came out at $23.3k
16x Longi 475W LR7 panels
8kW PylonTech inverter
5.12kWh PylonTech battery

Lightforce Sigen system $26.5k

SigenStor BAT 10
SigenStor EC8.0SP
16x Trina 505w Panels for 8kW
Sigen Gateway

I'm gonna stop here to post this and go home from work. lol

My advice as always is to size the inverter around normal max load, not max max , and then cram as many panels onto the roof as will fit. Ask supplier the marginal cost of one extra pane. That helps them sharpen their pencils.

Also aim for max self consumption unless you have a decent battery capacity in which case you can start to look at arbitrage.

Otautahi Christchurch

timmmay

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#3485997 1-May-2026 07:29

Paul1977:

I can see graphs in the Fronius app down to something like 5 min resolution, but can't export at that resolution. However, it seems I can do a free trial of the "Premium" upgrade and test it out myself to be sure it gives me what I want before committing. If it gives me what I want, then $100 for 3 years is fine.

I figured out how to enable the local API on the inverter and have installed the Fronius integration into HA, but haven't really had a look at what it can do yet.

Now I've had solar for a year I know the general patterns, I may remove the Home Assistant / solar integration. I have integrations that use that information, but I may make them simple time based automations. Having the information available encourages checking it, doing things when solar is highest, which is starting to feel a little obsessive. I suspect the difference between carefully using events to run things when solar output is best and taking a guess based on time won't result in much difference in the bill, which is the main reason we have solar - cost reduction.

sen8or

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#3486015 1-May-2026 08:10

Ok, so it wasn't a simple timer that they put in, is a Shelly smart relay. I can see it in the Sigen app. Currently set to manual mode, but the installer did say they'd go in and configure it, I'll check this later. Looks like the relay can be set where it draws power from (or at least the priority). I can see where to put in our tarrif info into the app, I assume this is to help the AI work out where/when to draw from the grid vs using battery etc.

Paul1977

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#3486188 1-May-2026 11:53

timmmay:

Now I've had solar for a year I know the general patterns, I may remove the Home Assistant / solar integration. I have integrations that use that information, but I may make them simple time based automations. Having the information available encourages checking it, doing things when solar is highest, which is starting to feel a little obsessive. I suspect the difference between carefully using events to run things when solar output is best and taking a guess based on time won't result in much difference in the bill, which is the main reason we have solar - cost reduction.

Yeah, I've only done it because I could - I'm not sure what I'd realistically use it for.

Paul1977

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#3486195 1-May-2026 12:23

Dairusire:

I think this is on topic for here, but would anyone be able to chime in on a company to go with in the hawkes bay (that services Hastings) who can achieve the below?

We've bought a property, about 180M/sq, 4bed, 2 bath REALLY old. Like, 1920s old.. Single roofline facing NNW and other side is SSE, so not super complex. There is zero space constraints on roof space available.

Previously in our (much new 2006 build home), we'd consume lets say up to 650-760kWh in a month through the depths of winter.

tl;dr we're wanting to get a lot done all at once.

10kw Solar
10kw of battery
Ducted heating/cooling for 6 zones (4 bedrooms, kitchen/dining area, Lounge)
Change from Gas mains (nothing else uses it. Will be decomissioned) hot water to Hot Water Heatpump, probably 250-300L tank.

So far, we've had some pretty varying quotes, and none of them are able to do this end to end, so maybe I'll need to split it up, just wanting to find efficiencies.

Also don't really know what is exactly an 'good price'. Does seem that there is a large variance between Major centers and out here in Hawkes bay I think?

The below is just the start on Solar stuff. HWC is anywhere between 8k-10k really from what I've seen.

Ducted systems, yeah 15k-21k. It is what it is.

Ohmen Electrical being just under $30k incl which is a SigenStor system, though when you compare to all the other quotes we've had, this is probably one of the more effective ones? Funnily, and annoyingly for the rest of the quotes, these guys were the only ones to do me the courtesy of actually breaking it down.

SigenStor EC10SP
SigenStor BAT 10
Gateway
24x Jinko Tiger 465w panels giving around 11.16kW

Harrisons come out the most expensive at $31.5k

Teslas Powerwall 3, with 13.5kWH of battery and 10kW inverter.
18x JA Solar 455W panels for 8.19kw
Or 18x Aiko infinite 490W panels 8.82kw generation for an additional $2400

Sunshine Solar came out at $22k with an AlphaESS system

7.2kW of generation
16x Sungrow 450W
8kW inverted (Smile-G3-S8)
12kWh of battery (x3 SMILE G3 4kWh)

SolarHub came out at $23.3k
16x Longi 475W LR7 panels
8kW PylonTech inverter
5.12kWh PylonTech battery

Lightforce Sigen system $26.5k

SigenStor BAT 10
SigenStor EC8.0SP
16x Trina 505w Panels for 8kW
Sigen Gateway

I'm gonna stop here to post this and go home from work. lol

I'm not an expert, as our solar was installed less than a week ago - but I know enough to be dangerous.

My first thought (as others have said) is you are better to over provision the panels compared to the inverter. Most of the time you won't be getting the max theoretical output from the panels. We did 11.76kW of panels and with clear sky at midday today were generating 7.55kW. I'm expecting this will be higher in summer when the sun is at a better angle to the panels, but I'm already thinking we should have squeezed in 2 additional panels as we could have physically fit them (it would probably be expensive to add them now, but would have been easily affordable if we'd done it as part of the full install).

Do you definitely need a battery? Every use case is different, but my calculations for us estimated only an additional $500ish yearly savings if we went for the 13.5kWH Powerwall instead of the Fronius with no battery. But it would have cost an additional $13,000. Even my most optimistic calculations couldn't get a battery make sense financially for us. This was based on the previous 12 months of full time-of-day energy consumption. We are instead exporting as much as we can, which subsidises what we need to import when we're not generating.

fastbike

488 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#3486197 1-May-2026 12:25

timmmay:

Now I've had solar for a year I know the general patterns, I may remove the Home Assistant / solar integration. I have integrations that use that information, but I may make them simple time based automations. Having the information available encourages checking it, doing things when solar is highest, which is starting to feel a little obsessive. I suspect the difference between carefully using events to run things when solar output is best and taking a guess based on time won't result in much difference in the bill, which is the main reason we have solar - cost reduction.

I have some integrations that directly control the rate of discharge/charge of the battery depending on the current SoC, target SOC and time of day. Prior to that I was the automation controller, so it's less obsessive now :)

Otautahi Christchurch

razor2000nz

230 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 37

#3486221 1-May-2026 12:48

Had our first quote in,

22 x 470w AE solar panels, 10.34kW

1 x 8kW Sigenstor hybrid inverter

1 x Shelly 1PM Gen3

$18k, now to decide if that good value or not. 4 month lead time for install though.

Would be keen to hear peoples thoughts on pricing

A bit more context

Chch, 2 adults 2 kids, No one home during day apart from school holidays Ducted heat pump/cooling 4 bed 200sqm Electric hot water Induction cooktop, single story. New build.

lxsw20

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#3486222 1-May-2026 12:53

Its hard to really compare apples with apples, do you have good roof access, do you need scaffold etc. But it sounds about right to me.

Paul1977

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#3486239 1-May-2026 13:54

razor2000nz:

Had our first quote in,

22 x 470w AE solar panels, 10.34kW

1 x 8kW Sigenstor hybrid inverter

1 x Shelly 1PM Gen3

$18k, now to decide if that good value or not. 4 month lead time for install though.

Would be keen to hear peoples thoughts on pricing

A bit more context

Chch, 2 adults 2 kids, No one home during day apart from school holidays Ducted heat pump/cooling 4 bed 200sqm Electric hot water Induction cooktop, single story. New build.

Is the Shelly for controlling power to water cylinder?

Just to clarify, is it a SigenStor or a Sigen Hybrid Inverter? A SigenStor is an all-in-one Inverter/Battery/EV Charger. You didn't mention battery capacity, so I' suspect whoever quoted just got the product name wrong and it is just the inverter.

timmmay

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#3486240 1-May-2026 13:55

Paul1977:

I'm not an expert, as our solar was installed less than a week ago - but I know enough to be dangerous.

My first thought (as others have said) is you are better to over provision the panels compared to the inverter. Most of the time you won't be getting the max theoretical output from the panels. We did 11.76kW of panels and with clear sky at midday today were generating 7.55kW. I'm expecting this will be higher in summer when the sun is at a better angle to the panels, but I'm already thinking we should have squeezed in 2 additional panels as we could have physically fit them (it would probably be expensive to add them now, but would have been easily affordable if we'd done it as part of the full install).

Do you definitely need a battery? Every use case is different, but my calculations for us estimated only an additional $500ish yearly savings if we went for the 13.5kWH Powerwall instead of the Fronius with no battery. But it would have cost an additional $13,000. Even my most optimistic calculations couldn't get a battery make sense financially for us. This was based on the previous 12 months of full time-of-day energy consumption. We are instead exporting as much as we can, which subsidises what we need to import when we're not generating.

I agree with all this. We have 9kw of panels, about 3/5 pointing north about 2/5 pointing west. Today, lovely bright day, no cloud, we're getting 5.5kw out of our 6kw inverter. The inverter does limit for a few hours on the completely clear days in summer, and I think 50% overprovisioning is a bit much, but I would load up more panels before getting a larger inverter. In Australia I heard there's a regulation that you can't overprovision the panels by more than 33% above the inverter.

Batteries are not economic for us. Payback period would be really high given the current payout rate / feed in tarrif. If the tarrifs go down they might make sense later, which is why we got a battery capable inverter but no battery.

sen8or

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#3486244 1-May-2026 14:12

razor2000nz:

Had our first quote in,

22 x 470w AE solar panels, 10.34kW

1 x 8kW Sigenstor hybrid inverter

1 x Shelly 1PM Gen3

$18k, now to decide if that good value or not. 4 month lead time for install though.

Would be keen to hear peoples thoughts on pricing

A bit more context

Chch, 2 adults 2 kids, No one home during day apart from school holidays Ducted heat pump/cooling 4 bed 200sqm Electric hot water Induction cooktop, single story. New build.

Also in Chch, we just paid $27,800 for -

26 x 490w Longi Panels

10kw Sigenstor Single Phase Controller

9.04kw Sigen Battery

The installer threw in the Sigen Gateway (which I don't think is necessary without a battery) and we also paid $200 odd for the Shelley Relay, so $ 10k or so higher, slightly more capacity and a battery.

Our house is not dissimilar, a little smaller @ 186sqm but elec hot water and heat pumps. Also no one at home during the day.

Its only day 1 of solar energy for us, so far too soon to judge, but battery was full by 11 or so, hot water came on at 10 and took about 2 hours to heat, the house is now drawing small volume of power (0.3kw). Once we start getting paid for export (is with the supplier awaiting switchover to import/export meter) will be better.

With no hot water coming on at night, I'm curious to see what our power draw is going to be like. We have our heatpumps programmed to come on at about 4pm each day, I might bring this back to 3 to allow a bit more lead time on solar energy to bring the house up to temp. Next major draw is after 11pm with hot water (on night rate). As this won't be happening now, I'm hopeful of getting through most of the night on battery only, but time will tell.

lxsw20

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#3486246 1-May-2026 14:20

Paul1977:

Just to clarify, is it a SigenStor or a Sigen Hybrid Inverter? A SigenStor is an all-in-one Inverter/Battery/EV Charger. You didn't mention battery capacity, so I' suspect whoever quoted just got the product name wrong and it is just the inverter.

Correction a SignenStor is a system that can but does not necessarily include Battery or EV charger.

kangaroo13

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#3486249 1-May-2026 14:29

razor2000nz:

Had our first quote in,

22 x 470w AE solar panels, 10.34kW

1 x 8kW Sigenstor hybrid inverter

1 x Shelly 1PM Gen3

$18k, now to decide if that good value or not. 4 month lead time for install though.

Would be keen to hear peoples thoughts on pricing

A bit more context

Chch, 2 adults 2 kids, No one home during day apart from school holidays Ducted heat pump/cooling 4 bed 200sqm Electric hot water Induction cooktop, single story. New build.

General spec of the system seems ballpark right.

We paid about 11K for a slightly smaller system, including the 6kW Sigen hybrid inverter. I think there is a significant step up in price to the 8kW version (in part due to the extra string, which you may or may not need). Lead time was really quick (I was the limiting factor due to other roof work). Is the Shelly for HWS? What's controlling it? Ours included a SunStash diverter, which may be more of a all-in-one, set-and-forget solution (but costs about $500+)? Sunrise Solar, Christchurch.

Paul1977

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#3486255 1-May-2026 14:48

lxsw20:

Paul1977:

Just to clarify, is it a SigenStor or a Sigen Hybrid Inverter? A SigenStor is an all-in-one Inverter/Battery/EV Charger. You didn't mention battery capacity, so I' suspect whoever quoted just got the product name wrong and it is just the inverter.

Correction a SignenStor is a system that can but does not necessarily include Battery or EV charger.

Well, that makes more sense then. Thanks.

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