Solar for all
Release: Doubling rooftop solar to reduce bills & emissions
This is a fantastic initiative. Hopefully all parties subscribe to this.
It's win win for all involved. Only power companies would be against this.
I'm all for new solar but the rebates going towards residential installs will go directly in the pockets of the same companies that are squeezing us as they make billions in profit.
Without similar DER/VPP legislation they have in Australia, the markets will continue to be skewed in favour of the big gentailers. I agree that this is a separate issue from the distributed generation needing to be installed but don't stop there. Let's take it all the way and make a level playing field for small generators.
As I've said in other comments, the best way to get around the power companies is to offset your own power usage, and put little to no power into the grid itself.
That way you're essentially paying yourself full purchase price for the power you make, and the power co doesn't get their cut at all.
Absolutely
Just saw this on the Aussie community and I'd thought I'd add it for some food for thought as it doesn't directly relate to NZ:
Rooftop solar eats up all demand in South Australia, world’s most renewable grid
The Aussies clearly love solar and I wish more people here would get behind it.
Putting solar panels on the roof of a building that is empty during the day, and in use at night is exactly the type of thinking I'd expect from Labour.
We should be putting it on the roofs of businesses, because they're there during the day
The policy says the rebate is for a battery as well. However I prefer the Greens policy that goes even further than Labour's.
And let's be honest, we already know the power companies and businesses do not pass on savings to the consumer and will just keep it all to boost profits. I would much rather solar directly benefits households, no matter how little it may be.
Grid tied solar doesn't care if your home is empty while collecting sunlight. The grid will carry the power to areas of demand.
I put solar in. It dropped my power bill about 40%.
Why you always argue we shouldn't do good things because it's not perfect is beyond me.
Solar on houses is good. Solar on houses and businesses is better. But just because the latter isn't happening right now is no reason to not do the former.
Agreed. I added solar when I moved to the Bay of Islands which has about the most expensive electricity rates in the country. I also work from home. It will pay for itself in 6 years at current electricity rates (which, some people tell me, are only going to get more expensive).
Unfortunately I'd need a battery to increase resilience against power cuts, and the maths doesn't add up for that yet, at least for me.
My argument is there is a far better way of doing solar than what is being proposed, not that we shouldn't do it.
If you actually read and understood my comment, you'd know I'm advocating for solar on buildings that are using power during the day.
Don't really know the specific ins and outs of different policys and all that, but really want solar to become more main stream, and with that, hopefully bring the prices down a bit.
Very keen to get some solar in the near future, and would love for some friendlier prices :)
The one to watch is the buyback rate, or what the power company will buy power off you for. Unless you're using a lot of power during the day, this is typically what makes solar not worthwhile.
The real problem is the daily charge. If the buyback is close enough to the purchase price you can make your night time (off peak) costs balance your generated income. When you have a high daily rate you have make up that difference before you can break even. I just switched to a provider with a bigger buyback/purchase difference but lower daily and will come out ahead because of that. Got tired of sending 2x more kWh to the grid than receiving and still ending up in debit.
Does the math, math if you get enough Batteries so that you can use a lot of it at night, without much buyback? Or does the high cost of storage not make the math quite math.
Hopefully if they mandate for it. They will invest in solar and that should bring the price down for all. Only time will tell though
Hopefully with the massive amount of effort going into battery tech, the price continues to come down rapidly, and we also get new technologies coming out that are a bit more eco-friendly