SolarZero saves customers $10 million on their power bills as we emerge from another icy winter
08 November 2024
New data tackles the misconception that solar is ineffective in the cold winter months
Aotearoa’s largest provider of household solar systems, SolarZero, has now reached the milestone of helping their customers save $10 million on their power bills since the company’s inception – a significant achievement in the face of rising energy costs and a volatile energy market.
With over 15,000 systems now installed on households across the country, SolarZero is proud to help each one save on their monthly energy costs due to the innovative solar subscription system, and batteries enabling ‘time of use’ efficiencies.
Matt Ward, Chief Executive of SolarZero, says, “Over the past few months, the discourse around New Zealand’s energy market has been heated and multi-faceted – specifically around the rising wholesale energy costs for retailers, increased demand on the national grid, and the importing of fossil fuels to plug the gap.”
Solar energy is poised as a solution to many of these issues due to the fact it is sustainable, secure, and increasingly more affordable with innovative technology like that offered by SolarZero.
“Solar panels paired with batteries present the opportunity to address many of the energy issues we’ve been discussing as a nation. We had the chance to prove this when our Virtual Power Plant network of solar systems helped to prevent nationwide power outages by supplementing the national grid – showing the large-scale resilience solar can create,” says Ward.
Maintaining sunshine hours during a chilly winter
Furthermore, new data shows that despite the reduced sunlight of the cold winter months, SolarZero’s nationwide solar systems still provided over 16,000 MwH of energy – equivalent to powering the whole of Feilding for the winter.
SolarZero’s nationwide network of systems generated 16,100 MwH of energy from June 1 to August 31, equivalent to the power usage of 7,040 households for the chilly season.
Contrary to popular belief, this winter still saw an average 75% of the daylight we experienced in Autumn across our major centres allowing for sufficient solar energy to be captured by panels and stored in batteries for efficient usage.
Ward adds, “There has always been a public misconception that solar is ineffective in the winter which makes it unreliable - despite the hundreds of sunshine hours at our disposal. But what’s more consistent than the sun rising in the morning, and setting in the evening? We’re proud to show that our customers helped to generate over 16,000 MwH over these three chilly months.”
“New Zealand is in need of a resilient energy system which takes the stress off the national grid. Countries such as Germany have demonstrated how popular and effective solar can be, despite having less sunlight than us to harness – it’s time we followed suit. Plus, pairing panels with batteries means that when the sun is shining brightly, nothing goes to waste and we can use it when we need it most.” says Ward.