The Sustainable Energy Association NZ (SEANZ) welcomes the announcement today from the Labour Party to incentivise residential solar and battery installation as well as increase funding for community projects and Kāinga Ora housing. Increasing solar and battery installations will help households reduce energy bills, reduce carbon emissions, and provide community resilience from weather disasters. The inclusion of funding for innovative energy-sharing projects is also welcomed as these will further share the advantages of solar across all electricity consumers. However, SEANZ urges all parties to do more to increase the uptake of solar across all sectors and to work with the industry to remove other obstacles.

SEANZ has four key points it is asking all parties to address in their election policy to ensure we meet the 68 percent increase in electricity generation forecast by Transpower by 2050:

• NZ Standards for solar technology updated and cited in law immediately
• Development funding for industry capacity and capability building to create new sustainable jobs
• Apply universal rules across all network operators such as a universal connection agreement
• Remove all barriers to utility solar take up including speeding up consultations on consenting processes and local low interest finance for developments

SEANZ Chair Brendan Winitana says: “it is good to see some political parties taking a hands-on approach to advance electrification and combating climate change through the use of solar and battery technologies, however, we also need to work collaboratively with the next government on standards, regulations, and removing other barriers to solar uptake across all sectors and we would like to see that commitment in all party election policies”.

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