'This car can...' Check out our new campaign
Rooftop residential solar is having a moment in the sun, with one company reporting a 50 percent increase in sales. Lightforce Solar, a nationwide installer, is opening a new branch in Queenstown. The company says its sales are up 50 percent this month on the same time last year. Figures from the Electricity Authority also show in the 12 months to March, there have been 10,344 new residential solar installations, up four percent on the previous 12 month period. Canterbury is leading the pack with 2101 new residential solar installations, followed by Auckland with 1200 and Wellington with 1099. John Harman, owner of Light Force Solar, spoke to Lisa Owen.
New Zealand has passed the "tipping point" where most people buying solar panels will save more money than they spend on them, researchers say, but more could be done to unlock households' ability to make use of solar power. Josh Ellison, research lead for Rewiring Aotearoa, said the country was one of the first where the electrification of homes and vehicles could deliver cost-of-living savings and reductions in emissions at the same time. He said the tipping point was probably passed about three years ago but has now been crossed for battery storage systems, too.
There can't be too many off-grid MPs in the world, but Celia Wade-Brown is one of them and she's the latest candidate in our ongoing series Political Power, where we get up close and personal with our elected representatives about their energy use.
Read moreDownload
