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Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey is intereviewed by Checkpoint's Lisa Owen about the SolarZero saga and says solar remains the future, but owning your panels rather than renting them is the way to deliver the biggest savings.
Casey told Checkpoint the technology itself is "100 percent the future" and was the cheapest energy available to New Zealand households.
Business models "come and go" and it was about getting the most affordable energy in human history to Kiwi households.
Casey said SolarZero "put solar on the map" and accelerated installations in New Zealand, but a changing market and a decrease in prices meant its business model did not have a long-term future.
These days, Casey said it was cheaper for households to own the panels and batteries, financing them on their mortgages rather than leasing them.
But New Zealand was still far behind Australia in the update of solar panels.
Where 35 percent of households in Australia had rooftop solar panels, just 3 percent of Kiwi homes had them.
The average install in New Zealand was about five kilowatts, costing $10,000.
In Australia, the average was 10kW, and about $20,000.
Casey said New Zealand needed to fix the rules and regulations to inherit the "well oiled machine" that was the Australian solar industry.
It was "unfortunate" the customer had lost the option of SolarZero but the right business model "will prevail in this country".
There’s plenty of energy emanating from the ground at Te Puia in Rotorua. And there’s plenty of creative energy emanating from those studying at the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute. Now there’s also plenty of electric energy, because the business has upgraded its fossil fuel vehicles and added a big solar system so they can run on the sun.
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