Talk:Solar power in New Zealand

Operating plants

Do we need a table yet of operating and planned solar farms, on the lines of those in Wind power in New Zealand?--IdiotSavant (talk) 23:35, 26 June 2021 (UTC)

@IdiotSavant: There is some value in adding a table to this article, but there are also downsides. With regard to Wind power, I note that there is significant duplication between the table in the article Wind power in New Zealand and the main list article List of power stations in New Zealand. It is possible that a significant number of solar farms will be smaller in capacity than many wind farms, and perhaps somewhat less significant or notable. I think that it could be adequate to amend the narrative in this article over time as new information become available, and add details of newly commissioned solar power farms only to the main list article. I am on-the-fence about this one, but as a general principle I prefer to avoid extensive duplication.Marshelec (talk) 01:30, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

@IdiotSavant: Hi, some further thoughts. Perhaps a next step with this article is to create separate headings or subheadings dealing with small scale installations and "grid-scale" installations, so that the content can develop separately. This would make it clearer for the reader. A possible capacity threshold is 1 MW, since this is the threshold above which the existence of the generating facility must be disclosed to the System Operator under the Electricity Industry Participation Code s8.25(2) EIPC part 8. Your thoughts ?Marshelec (talk) 02:16, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

Sounds like a good idea for now. I'm also wondering about how to handle the larger industrial facilities, like Foodstuffs and Auckland wastewater (both of which are over 1MW), since these seem mainly to be about reducing their power bills rather than generating for the grid.--IdiotSavant (talk) 02:25, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

These larger scale PV systems > 1 MW that are embedded "behind-the-meter" at industrial facilities could still be referred to as "grid-scale", even though they are not intended for generation of "merchant power" for sale across the grid. It would just need a statement saying that some large scale solar installations may be embedded "behind-the-meter" where there is a large load such as an industrial facility. I note that the article Photovoltaic power station uses the term "utility-scale solar" for merchant power generation, and mentions a 1 MW threshold in several places, so this provides some support for splitting the article content into small and large PV systems based on that threshold. I found this interesting quote from October 2018: "Bloomberg New Energy Finance projects that in the case of Australia – among the most decentralised markets in the world – over 40% of the generation capacity may reside BTM by 2030." [1]. However, New Zealand seems unlikely to get that level of investment in generation behind-the-meter anytime soon. It seems that for the immediate future, the majority of new installed capacity in solar generation in NZ will result from these new larger-scale installations that are mostly "merchant power", rather than massive uptake of solar panels on individual residences (where they are embedded behind-the-meter). Marshelec (talk) 04:17, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

The wind power table uses 5MW, which will neatly avoid the small stuff and focus on the grid-scale plants, so I'll go with that. --IdiotSavant (talk) 01:29, 1 December 2021 (UTC)

Solar feed-in tariff

While there are no subsidies for home solar in New Zealand, the fact that there is a feed-in tariff available (with rates up to 17c/kWh) can provide at least some additional justification for people to install grid-connected systems. Karora 16:55, 19 October 2022 (UTC)

That's not a feed-in tariff - its just selling power back to a power company.--IdiotSavant (talk) 22:11, 19 October 2022 (UTC)

Domestic use

This article provides a good background on large-scale/industrial use generation of solar however there is little on domestic use. I believe there are 30-50K home installations, some purchased outright and some rented. I would see the holy grail as all new residential buildings installing solar panel/battery schemes, feeding excess to the grid and excess power generated used to pump the water back to the top of the hydro schemes for reuse, which may assist the decommission of coal and gas power generation. Just like to see a consensus on direction. Neils51 (talk) 09:16, 3 February 2024 (UTC)

If you have the evidence, please add it to the 'Distributed systems' section. Johnragla (talk) 09:28, 3 February 2024 (UTC)