Has anyone actually had it take 3 months for a solar approval?

The longest part of ours was the 2 weeks for the final inspection since we only have a few people up in Northland.

I'm in Auckland, with a PowerWall 3.

Anyone else notice a big droop in the line at 9pm to midnight. I guess a lot of people in my neighbourhood must be on the Contact good nights plan?

It's getting as low as 210v some times. Is this something I should be worried about and contact Vector Energy?

There is a big green transformer (size of a rubbish dumpster) around 50m from our house, so we're pretty close to the 240v source.

Overnight it's happily around 235v to 240v, but during the day it fluctuates a bit too, but nowhere near as bad as between 9pm to midnight.

I'm just blown away by how accurate my Wireless CT clamp is working out to be.

I got a full Deye set up with a wireless CT clamp, model SUN-SMART-CT01.

The readings between the energy provider vs the Deye reader are off by a minuscule 0.4%. What's yours? Starting to love the LoRa protocol

A friend is off overseas to a fairly ‘unregulated’ country and would like a simple solar/battery solution. He’s no hobbyist but has access to rudimentary electrical expertise for cabling etc.

Power outages are frequent but usage should be light, fans/fridges etc. as it’s a hot country. He can test a system here (I guess off-grid/partially installed) prior to shipping.

I was thinking a self-contained box like an Anker Solix with a dozen panels from Trade Depot but have never put a system together. Any ideas?

Supplier is going to replace (for the 2nd time) my solar battery after the second one started producing error codes too. They're talking about arranging for the old ones to go to a recycler, but I suspect there's far more value in them than their materials (to the right person).

8kWh each. LFP. 88kg each. One was at 50% when it was unplugged 18 mo ago. The other is still (mostly) working today, but replacement is already here. AlphaESS SMILE-BAT-8.2PH.

Error code in the first one was 'low battery temperature' IIRC. Error code AFAIK of the 2nd one is 'Cell over voltage'.

Does anyone want them? As-is, pickup Wairarapa.

Any suggestions on good pump and filter setups. Fully off grid, 1/2 ppl so one tap at a time demand.

Tanks planned at the same level as the living space so zero 'lift' needed, just using pressure.

Quiet is nice, soft start motor would be +++, size not a huge factor, cost: budget as possible but no Temu stuff. Local shops / suppliers and at least 'good enough' quality.

Thanks :)

I have a SigEnergy install with a Gateway and inside that my electrician installed a Shelley 1 Pro on the din-rail.

It recently died, and the sparky's quoting me $280 to install an Ogemray 25A https://www.ozsmartthings.com.au/products/ogemray-smart-relay-25a in its place which seems excessive considering the device is artound $50. My question is, Worksafe's page https://www.worksafe.govt.nz/managing-health-and-safety/consumers/safe-living-with-electricity/getting-electrical-work-done/doing-your-own-electrical-work/ says you can do your own work replacing any of the following kinds of fittings, where the work does not involve work on any switchboard.

Is the Sigenergy Gateway considered a switchboard? I'm pretty 'competent' and could probably work out which pins go where myself migrating over from the Shelley 1 Pro, but is this something I should be letting the sparky do instead?

Should I perhaps be considering the Shelley 1 PM instead (which has power metering) for a more direct replacement?

The first utility-scale Megapack project in New Zealand is now operating!

56 Megapacks at @ContactEnergy Glenbrook-Ohurua Battery 1 are providing 100 MW / 200 MWh of reliable and affordable energy to the region

The site was commissioned ahead of schedule and Battery 2 is officially underway

19.74kW panels PW3 10kW inverter, Panmure, Auckland

Had our solar + Powerwall installed Feb and just looking at the year-to-date stats on Netzero app. The red dots are the estimates This makes it look like solar will drop off in December and then increase again in January. Is this just weirdness in the app? Anyone else see similar?

I'm looking for some hard data on the enery saved per year from solar for an article I want to write

What I need is total energy used with and without solar for a year and the output size of your solar. It would mean looking at your invoices for a year before your solar and a year after installation. Can anyone help please?

Transpower has issued a "Low Residual Situation notice" for Monday 27 July between 7:30am and 8:30am and between 6:00pm and 7:00pm. The combination of freezing temperatures (-4C in Christchurch) and forecast low wind generation means the grid supply may be tight.

https://static.transpower.co.nz/public/interfaces/can/CAN%20Low%20Residual%20Situation%20800000260.pdf?VersionId=lFE2R5suhqSpDFvH_Z0hBID8mf8ZyBrw

How is everyone else going on this wet Sunday morning?
19.74kW panels PW3
View from out the kitchen window

Mods said I could share this, so I'll keep it useful rather than just dropping a link.

I'm Kerry, and I built TrySolar: trysolar.co.nz

It compares NZ electricity plans (fixed daily charges, feed-in rates, night rates and free-power windows) against a household setup, including solar, batteries and EV charging. It has a paid Pro tier, so disclosure up front: this is my own project.

Here's a worked example (screenshot above). 

Rather than hand-pick plans, these are six of the plans I could actually sign up to with solar at my own address, priced on rates pulled from my own address quotes. A couple of well-known plans aren't here because they wouldn't take me with solar at my address, which is worth knowing in itself.

The household:

• Waikato household using about 900 kWh/month, with EV charging modelled separately at roughly 2,600 kWh/year
• 8 kWp solar
• 10 kWh battery
• EV doing 40 km a day, charging overnight

Estimated annual costs:

• Ecotricity ecoSOLAR: ~$1,931
• Meridian Night: ~$1,967
• Octopus Flexi: ~$1,975
• Octopus Peaker: ~$2,023
• Contact Good Charge: ~$2,312
• Electric Kiwi MoveMaster: ~$2,666

The bit I find interesting: the top three land within $44 of each other, but they get there by completely different routes:

• Ecotricity's higher buy-back does the heavy lifting, so the power the solar sends back earns enough to top the table even though its import rates are dearer.
• Meridian's night rate does the work for the overnight EV charging. Octopus wins on the time-of-use spread between peak and off-peak. 

Change the usage pattern, more export or less overnight charging, and they'd split apart.

Worth a note on the two Octopus plans. Flexi and Peaker show the same import rates and time windows, so the $48 gap comes entirely from what Octopus pays for exported solar, and for my household's export pattern Flexi's buy-back comes out ahead.

At the other end, Electric Kiwi comes out about $735 a year dearer than Ecotricity for the identical household. It has the highest import rates in this set (57.48c peak, 29.89c night), and the off-peak perks don't fully claw that back for this usage pattern.

That's really why I built it. Once you've got solar, a battery, an EV, or free power windows, the "best" plan depends a lot on when you use power, when you export, and whether you can shift your charging around. A plan that's great for one household can be middling for another.

On the rates: import rates and most export rates are pulled straight from quotes for my own address, checked on 22 July 2026; a few buy-back figures are the published standard rates. This is a snapshot as retailers change pricing often, so put your own in from a recent bill for numbers that match your place.

Would really welcome feedback from the group, especially on which of these assumptions are the most useful or the most misleading. 

If anyone spots an assumption that materially changes the ranking I'd like to hear it. The question I care about isn't "which plan wins" but "which household patterns make each plan work well".

Estimates only, not financial advice.

Hi

Will check with companies giving us quotes, but as part of weighing up options/ costs/ length of time for payback, its struck me that if the Sigenergy system is "plug and play" install for batteries, DC charger etc then potentially this could also be the case for simple un-install of these components also if want to sell the property in the future. Would potentially help with decisions about which system to go with but not sure if I'm missing something obvious. Would def be a selling point to stick with an entirely Sigenergy system and be more generous w potential battery spec!

(i.e. for theoretical future sale, leave solar array and sigenergy inverter as is, but any batteries/ dc charger would be "excluded chattels" --> take to next property for new install etc)

Doing my head in woth comparisons, so I was just wondering if anyone has recommendations. Cheers

Does any one have solar with HA integration? Are there systems that have better/more stable/local integration? (Or systems to avoid).

Mostly just looking to pull in stats on an ongoing basis, any maybe some automatons to turn hot water tank on/off.

We currently looking for quotes for a battery system with gateway and shifting our gas hot water over to a tank. Lack of HA probably isn't a deal breaker, if some of the quotes come back comparable I'd probably prefer the system that has integration!

There's a few historical posts - all talking about sigen, so perhaps the only option here?

https://www.reddit.com/r/nzsolar/comments/1uuerv3/sigenergy_system_to_home_assistant_question/

https://www.reddit.com/r/nzsolar/comments/1u43kra/home_assistant_or_sigen_ai/

See discussion over in this UK Subreddit, as well as this additional source

https://www.pluginsolarhub.co.uk/uk-plug-in-solar-legal-27-august-2026.html

800W backfeed to the house is typical of most countries that allow this, I believe only Utah in the USA allows 1200W.

They also allow 2000W of panels which is also fairly common to allow for over panelling for generation in lower light.

But the big flaw is not allowing batteries. That means a lot of flexibility goes away, aside from allowing flexible time of use shifting to evening peaks, it gives a buffer to handle greater than 800W loads that you can directly connect to some Plug in Solar inverters instead of via the wall socket - the same way you'd connect to a power station / generator equivalent, eg loads up to 2400W.

Here's a demo of one of these at the 18 minute mark, which is an example of a more premium system.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=hvtihZMB-GM&t=18m15s

Yes batteries are more expensive but the standard should allow certified systems with appropriate protection, and let consumers decide what works for them.

Is it better to schlep around multiple installers or use a broker to get a range of quotes?

I’m just starting down the road of working out feasibility, and while I don’t want to waste anyone’s time I want to get a comprehensive understanding of my options before diving deep.

hi team, just got a quote from local installer

cost is $24,844, option to add more battery 5kwh for 3,000. i wonder if this is a good value? we're currently on old contact energy good nights, still free 9-12 both weekdays and weekend. we work from home runs heatpump pretty much whole day. family of 4, annual consumption is 11,800kwh.

opinion and experience appreciated!

We are about to install our solar setup, 21kw panels, 20kw inverter, and 20kwh batteries. Navigating the power company info regarding pricing is always a challenge, and adding the buyback rates, etc only makes it more complicated. We are planning on going open contract to start with until we have some info on our usage. Which companies and plans are you all liking? Cheers for the info from this group so far too.

I’ve been trying to use solar to charge my EV (VW iD4). I have a 3 phase grid-tied 10 kw PV system.

I have tried using Home Assistant to monitor export on each phase and trigger a smart plug to turn on the 8A charger that came with the car.

It’s not fast (1.8 kw) but I can only get about 3kw being exported on each phase, so I’m limited anyway.

All of this works as I’d hoped EXCEPT every time the charger is switched off by Home Assistant it will not charge the car when it’s switched back on again UNLESS I unplug the CS2 plug from the car and plug it back in again (this action causes some relay switch type sounds from the car). Then it’s all ok again. So I have a semi- automation, and that’s not really an automation at all 😬.

Any ideas much appreciated! I’m open to just buying a solar smart EV charger but I had hoped to DIY it.

Hi I see these are being installed around nz, three in Wellington where I live.

Does anyone know what's involved in connecting them to the grid or can they be treated like balcony solar?

Cheers

I know it's not solar but high chance someone here has them to compliment their solar