The Ministry for Regulation has recommended legalising plug-in solar and allowing accredited installers to sign off on an installation without an inspection.<\/p>\n
The ministry says its recommendations will speed up processing times and lower costs for solar uptake.<\/p>\n
Plug-in solar is currently illegal in New Zealand, with the inverters required for plug-in solar banned due to concerns over electricity risks and starting house fires.<\/p>\n
Those standards have been in place since 2012, but the ministry’s review found those barriers could be removed if suitable safety standards and were developed.<\/p>\n
“Plug-in systems can be used by renters and people living in apartments who can’t access traditional rooftop solar. If they’re good enough for Germany and the UK, they’re good enough for us,” Minister for Regulation David Seymour said.<\/p>\n
The government is already in the early stages of developing plug-in standards, including looking at what safety requirements need to be met before it can be enabled.<\/p>\n
In May, Seymour ordered a review into the solar installation process<\/a>, saying he wanted to make New Zealand the easiest place in the world to switch to solar.<\/p>\n He said the ministry had spoken to installers, industry participants, regulators, and other stakeholders, and found in some cases installing a small-scale solar system could involve up to six different sign-offs and five site visits from four different entities before it could be switched on.<\/p>\n The review recommended a more proportionate, risk-based inspection model, without always requiring an electrical inspector to check every installation in-person. Accredited installers could be exempted from needing an in-person inspection for installations of up to 100kW.<\/p>\n It also suggested shortening processing times for lines companies processing requests to install solar from 10 working days to the next working day for standard residential requests, and exempting some types of installations from needing a resource consent.<\/p>\n The ministry expected all of its 15 recommendations could be implemented within 18 months.<\/p>\n Some, such as legalising plug-in solar and exempting accredited installers from inspections, could be implemented through secondary legislation.<\/p>\n Eight recommendations, such as proposals to make metering data more accessible, would involve amending the Electricity Industry Participation Code.<\/p>\n The ministry estimated its recommendations could deliver net benefits between $28 million and $50m over 10 years, through lower compliance costs, reduced delays, and the use of plug-in solar.<\/p>\n Energy minister Simeon Brown has been working on developing plug-in solar standards.<\/p>\n He said the Ministry for Regulation’s proposals would help make solar uptake cheaper and faster.<\/p>\n “The government is focused on ensuring New Zealand has access to affordable and reliable power with these proposals building on what the government is already delivering, from fast-track consenting big renewable projects, to doubling the export limits for households exporting power back to the grid.”<\/p>\n While the review focused on improvements to regulation, others have identified the upfront cost and access to finance as the biggest barriers.<\/p>\n Both National and Labour are campaigning on low-interest loans to help households invest in solar<\/a>.<\/p>\n National would also remove some planning rules to make it easier for households to install solar without the need for council consent.<\/p>\n