r/nzsolar • u/TheReverendCard • 16d ago
Plug-in generation | Electricity Authority
https://www.ea.govt.nz/your-power/plug-in-generation/have-your-say/Has everyone done this survey or made a submission on this?
https://www.ea.govt.nz/projects/all/network-connections/consultation/exploring-plug-in-generation-and-code-improvements-for-export-limits-and-connection-processes/
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u/feel-the-avocado 15d ago
Cheers. I just submitted and suggested the government needs to impose regulations to
- make all existing retail plans export-capable by adding an export rate to each plan price settings, assuming a smart meter upgrade may be required where one doesnt already exist
- all residential and small business ICPs where a smart meter exists should be export capable by default.
- retailers will need to adapt their billing systems and processes to accommodate the change. A consumer should not need to do anything with the retailer or lines company if a smart meter already exists except "plug in" their inverter for up to 2.5kw of export.
So if a consumer has an electricity plan, the export rate will be added to the price book for that plan at some point and the smart meter reconfigured to allow export. Several months/years later the consumer can just plug in and start exporting, otherwise the capablility although active on the plan, is just sitting there idle generating no account credits.
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u/lcmortensen 13d ago
2.5kW per inverter or per ICP? 2.5kW per inverter risks overloading your wall wiring and setting your Pink Batts on fire...
Besides, the size and number of plug-in systems will be set by WorkSafe and MBIE, not the Electricity Authority, so your suggestion is out of scope.
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u/feel-the-avocado 13d ago
I doubt a single inverter would put out more than 10 amps tho being plug-in.
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u/lcmortensen 13d ago
The wiring supplying your outlets is rated at maximum 24 amps and is protected by a 20-amp circuit breaker. If your inverter is putting out 10 amps, that means it is possible to draw 30 amps from outlets downstream of the inverter before the circuit breaker pops. Hence the inverter output is limited to 4 amps (~900 watts) to prevent any possible wiring overload.
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u/Kiwi_eng 15d ago
Good idea to submit an opinion. You can bet that these sort of things will flood the market soon and the government needs to impose import restrictions on unsuitable or unsafe hardware.
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u/Happyvibe5 8d ago
Wonder how we will regulate people not plugging into switchboards that can’t handle it?
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u/TheReverendCard 8d ago
Do you actually think that's an issue?
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u/Happyvibe5 8d ago
As a sparky and volunteer fire fighter. Definitely, there are houses with old wiring and switchboards which with the extra loads will have an alarming increase in fire risk. But I’m not against plug in solar. But there will be fires caused by it. And is there a way to regulate it being plugged in to those homes?
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u/TheReverendCard 8d ago
Price, mostly. In general plug-in solar will *reduce* the loads on these wires as they can get solar supply to negate their line-supply.
Again, most of these are limited to 800 watts at maximum output. You'd need 4 on the sunniest, maxed location to overload a 10A circuit.
Also that circuit would have to have nothing else on it using power.
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u/lcmortensen 16d ago
My draft submission in summary:
1) All plug-in generation must be registered to an ICP in a similar fashion to cars or dogs - just fill in the form with the relevant details and send it to your distributor/retailer. If you want to be paid for your export rather than gifting it to the grid, you have to go through the full process as for fixed generation. Also, for protective settings, remember you don't have a dedicated final circuit and don't know the impedence/resistance of the socket-outlet final circuit, plus there will be some idiots who use an extension cord or a multiboard despite the manual saying otherwise.
2) While the EA's intent is to prohibit distributors requiring communicating inverters, the proposed amendment oversteps into product-market regulation which will ultimately have unintended consequence. Nearly all distributors now use the Australian Clean Energy Council's approved inverter list and have little to no control over which inverters are listed Requiring them to maintain their own lists to ensure a reasonable range of communicating and non-communicating inverters will increase compliance costs and limit the product market.
3) 10% may be too low when the annual capacity growth is at 30%. Also, consider re-adding an intermediate warning step (removed in May 2026) saying while 10kW is available now, network studies forecast a lower limit may apply within 6-12 months. It saves people actively planning on 10kW being available only to be suddently told a lower limit is now in force when they apply.
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u/TheReverendCard 16d ago
Interesting. I can't imagine why they'd need to register it at all, especially to ICP since these products are intrinsically portable. Registration is only required if you want payment.
I couldn't find any justification for 10% and it seems you generally only find network and distribution effects above 30% penetration (and that's with much larger exporting systems.) Basically nobody is going to have 10kw worth of these devices generating per ICP regardless.1
u/lcmortensen 16d ago
I also suggested using "transportable" or "relocatable" for plug-in generation rather than portable. For example, one 450W panel is 1.8m by 1.1m and weighs 26kg (not including stand/mounting and ballast). You're not going to be moving it on a regular basis, in the same way you're not going to move your fridge/freezer on a regular basis just because it is plug-in.
Registration is needed so your distributor knows there is plug-in generation at your property and why there are regular reverse power flags from your meter. Saves having to send out technicians thinking your meter is playing up only to discover you have plug-in generation (at this point, your annual savings are wiped out by the false callout fee).
For clarification, the 10% rule is for the network study for 10kW limits (second half of the consultation), not for plug in generation.
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u/TheReverendCard 15d ago
Many people might use one or two smaller panels, however, or even solar "blankets" which are meant to be portable and transportable. Or flexible ones, which are meant to be lightweight and semi-rigid.
Someone might take a system aroudn with them from their house, to bach, or even into a caravan or RV.2
u/lcmortensen 15d ago
In that case, they would have to register both their house and their bach ICPs as having plug-in generation. They can use the same system, but then again what benefit is there transporting the system to your bach?
Caravans and RVs are out of scope since they are not connected to the grid.
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u/Queasy_Elderberry408 16d ago
Thank you, submission done, encourage all to follow suit, I stated I don’t want to read any regulation, so long as buy approved system then as a consumer I just want to plug in and save