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A place in the sun

By Nikki Mandow

Saturday 1st May 2004

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Rising electricity prices and two years of power shortages in the last four has brought a smile to one industry at least: solar. The number of solar water-heating systems sold last year was up 55% from the year before (okay, from a small base). Better still for solar aficionados, after years of being on the greenie DIY fringe, sun power is apparently going mainstream.

The government's Electricity Efficiency and Conservation Authority and the Solar Industries Association (SIA) say an ad campaign that began in February in places like NZ House and Garden and the Sunday Star Times is netting 50 visits a day to the solarsmarter.org.nz website. Anecdotal reports suggest suppliers are receiving five times the normal level of inquiry.

Buyers are, according to SIA boss Brian Cox, "middle income New Zealand, people with a bit of discretionary money and interest in the environment." But they are looking at practical outcomes, too. "They make sure they are using enough hot water to achieve electricity savings."

SIA's ambitious target is to get 10,000 new systems installed every year, though the date has been revised from the extremely unlikely 2005. The target is equivalent to five times the present figure, and about half the new housing stock. It's also not much less than half the total number of systems installed since the 1970s - about 22,000.

Solar water heating is expensive - the cheapest household system is around $3500. But it produces cheap power - approximately 8 cents/kWh as opposed to around 13-15cents/kWh on your power bill. If your household has teenage daughters or you own a backpackers' hostel or rest home, the payback is around eight years, Cox says. For the average household it's about 10. The systems are designed so when the sun doesn't shine (around 25-30% of the time on average), your normal gas or electric water-heating system kicks in automatically.

Part of the reason for solar's present success is the industry has cleaned up its act. The 1970s saw a few questionable systems and installers coming onto the market, as well as a lot of hapless environmental or DIY householders trying to install their own solar water heaters with less than perfect results. The outcome: an unjustified (according to Cox) loss of confidence in solar. This time the marketing push comes only after the industry has set up quality controls on product, an accreditation system (including a list of accredited suppliers), a code of practice, a complaints system and, starting this year, a training course.

EECA says with an average of 2000 hours of bright sunshine a year, New Zealand has plenty of solar energy. It claims if every home had its roof covered in solar panels they would collect enough power to satisfy over 25% of New Zealand's annual electricity requirements.

Yet New Zealand is well behind other countries, particularly Australia, in its attachment to solar. In South Australia it will be mandatory from 2006 for all new homes to have solar water heating and in most states there is a well-established system of cash hand-outs to encourage people to put panels on their roofs. EECA spokeswoman Rachel Dahlberg says New Zealand decided against subsidies because they are expensive and tend to be used up by people who would have bought a solar heating system anyway.

Instead, Energy Minister Pete Hodgson has put up $200,000 in the 2003/2004 Budget for individual $450 grants to help people who want to install solar, but have to take out a loan to do it. The government money is roughly equivalent to loan interest payments for the first year.

Nick Schofield, managing director of Auckland-based supplier Synergex Systems, says the government's stance on solar means local bodies are also starting to think solar water heating for their buildings. Swim at Waitakere City West Wave swimming pools or give birth at County Manukau's Botany Downs Maternity Unit and you'll be wallowing in solar-heated water. If the sun's shining, that is.

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