Ken: I think solar and batteries should be compulsory for any new build.

Some say the wind isn’t a reliable source of energy in New Zealand. The wind:

There's a place for wind for sure, but I wouldn't call it reliable, especially when compared to geothermal or hydro. Even solar is generally more predictable and reliable.

It doesn't matter what the source of the energy if you store in batteries. This is the game changer for solar and wind that the current government seem to have (wilfully) missed

Tiwai deal opens door for new power projectswww.nzherald.co.nz Contact Energy has started its first battery project and says more will follow.

Like everything it comes down to where is the best place to spend limited money, in the end it's always going to be a combination of supply and storage. Government subsidies for household batteries would be money well spent too. Personally I would have liked onslow to have been given more thought.

Community solar schemes should be mandatory for any public housing development. It takes someone to think differently, no politician will do it

I think solar and batteries should be compulsory for any new build.

That and heat pump hot water systems. They’re all solar compatible by design and use a lot less than the standard hot water tanks NZ has so many of.

They're eye wateringly expensive though

Are they? Last time I checked a while back they were more, but not that much more… what are we talking these days? Last time I needed to replace a hot water system it was ~$2k for both gas infinity and standard hot water tanks.

I got a quote for air to water heat pump to replace our infinity gas hot water system and the gas condensing boiler for the radiators, $30k👀 Admittedly mine would be more expensive because we need high temperature ones for the central heating

That's a lot bigger than a straight hot water cylinder though.

Yes

Not sure NZ has really adopted central heating (sadly). If you factor putting a heat pump in every room (incl bathroom and toilet) then the true comparison makes central heating a far better option (with no noise, draught or dust to consider).

Yes, that's what we did. We had an old bungalow on a south facing ridge in Auckland. Heaters were unflued. We had a Rinnai with a fan in the family area, two 30 year old gas panel heaters, and the teens had fan heaters for study. We used the fireplace every Tuesday, after swimming lessons. If I 1/

Or perhaps a pellet furnace.

Pellet furnace OK. But add a UPS with a big battery so it will keep going during power cuts (3-4 days?) as they use small amounts of electricity. Installers rarely consider this aspect.

It is not *quite* this simple, but if you add more radiators they don't need to run as hot. Worth getting advice on...

Wow. Thats utterly insane. You can get 5 kw of solar panels, a 5 kwh battery for less than that.

I know, that's why I decided to either add to the battery or replace the other car the kids use with a 2nd EV

Good Lord. Might a dual circuit, HW/ air be cheaper? Drop the radiators for a ducted air system.

But radiator heat is so nice!

I renovated 12 years ago, back then it wasn't an option here and believe me I tried. Turn and tilt windows seemed to baffle people🤦🏻‍♂️ I'd never have ducted/forced air, can't beat radiated heat. Our power bill is tiny because we load shift and have solar/batteries. 0 fuel/maintenance on the car etc

We're not 100% off grid but are hitting decent numbers, the misnomer of poor ROI is, again, not accounting for storage. System cost $25k, only had the battery for just under a year

This is just the PV, average around 8MW per year

We only get about 5MWh per annum here, but I'm looking at adding some more panels on a different part of the roof to get more afternoon/evening sun which will make a big difference.

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