Solar panels capturing the sun’s energy have sprouted in the past couple of years, and a local solar expert says continued growth is essential for the region’s resilience.
High power prices have largely driven growth, but John-Paul (JP) Gardiner from Rowan Dron Electrical says there is also a need to reduce reliance on the national grid.
“There’s vulnerability in the network in New Zealand,” he says. “The spread of the population in this part of the country makes us more exposed to events and we need to be able to have more localised generation.”
So far this winter, JP says New Zealand has had eight days of record power demand. Polar blasts occur every winter, but he says population growth, more appliances and electric vehicles add up to an increasing amount of power required, stretching the national grid.
While the Government has made it easier to put panels on new builds without a consent, and banks are offering low-interest loans for solar, the percentage of houses with solar is still tiny, he says. Compared with Australia where 33 per cent of rooftops have solar, he says just three per cent of New Zealand homes have solar – and that maybe nudging four per cent now.
Those installing solar panels today are getting a far different product from what was available in the past, he says. The cost of solar panels has come down substantially while their power output has increased significantly. At the same time, electricity prices keep rising.
Once installed, solar panels without batteries can produce electricity for as little as six to 12 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). JP says that works out about 20 per cent of the average retail price of grid power.
Batteries add significant cost, but he says storing solar energy improves resilience in Nelson Tasman. In a major event such as an alpine fault earthquake, he says, the region could be cut off from the national grid for an extended period and local generation and storage would help maintain essential services and support recovery.
Having electricity generation distributed around the country also helps create a more resilient grid which, he says, in turn will help keep prices more stable.
“Affordable power is key to having a productive economy. In New Zealand, power is expensive and often a hindrance to business staying open.
“We are going to see more deindustrialisation. Eves Valley (sawmill) is an example of that happening. It’s about the economy being competitive on a global scale as well.”
Commercially, he is seeing solar farms being built as part of succession planning on farms – unlocking the value of the land and creating another revenue stream for landowners.
Solar energy is abundant, he says, so we might as well capture it.
“We have to do it because other areas don’t have the abundance of sunshine we do.”
In the future, photovoltaic windows will likely be capturing the sun and then buildings could be “our own power plants”.
Now that pine pollen is settling over the region, JP’s advice is to wash solar panels once the pollen season is over, or it will affect their efficiency.
