NZ's first peer-to-peer solar electricity provider launches

New Zealand’s first peer-to-peer solar electricity provider launches on Waiheke Island

Auckland, 29 March 2016 - P2 Power, a new, innovative energy provider, has launched the country’s first peer-to-peer solar power platform on Waiheke Island.

Auckland-based P2 Power developed the technology, named SolarShare, to enable those who don’t have solar panels to buy solar power directly from those who contribute excess amounts to the grid. In effect, it means Auckland householders can circumvent traditional power companies and buy environmentally friendly, sustainable solar power from their neighbours instead.

Stu Innes, P2 Power’s co-founder, says the company hopes to use digital technology to disrupt the traditional electricity industry and make solar power an affordable, sustainable and viable option for New Zealand consumers.

“The New Zealand electricity market needs to change in order to confront climate change. By giving people the choice to buy some of their power locally, from people generating clean, renewable power at home, everyone involved gets a better deal and can play a meaningful part in addressing the climate and efficiency issues that we face,” he says.

“Electricity is seen as a boring industry and big power-company customers begrudgingly pay their power bill without understanding what they’re paying for. With P2 Power and our technologies, we can make the process much more exciting and transparent and enable people to support each other by buying and selling energy.”

SolarShare works by sourcing local solar-power generators, such as neighbouring households or businesses, on Vector’s networks. When spare power is exported into the network, their meter records it and P2 Power matches it to another customer who is using power at the same time. When there’s not enough local power to meet the customer’s needs, the rest is supplied via traditional power stations.

The company will launch SolarShare on Auckland’s Waiheke Island on April 1, and SolarShare will be available across the whole of Auckland shortly afterward. The company plans to expand throughout New Zealand in 2017.

“We’ve launched on Waiheke Island first because Waiheke locals are a close-knit community of forward-thinking, eco-conscious New Zealanders. They’re our kind of people,” says Innes.

To celebrate the launch, P2 Power is giving Waiheke Island schools the chance to have solar panels installed on their buildings for free. The company invites new customers to nominate a school of their choice when they sign up as a P2 Power customer. The schools that receive 100 nominations will each get $5000 worth of solar equipment installed by P2 Power for free.

“Peer-to-peer power demands a different way of thinking about electricity, but we believe that if we can get New Zealanders to embrace it, it will make a meaningful impact. The real change is in the hands of the consumers; we just provide them with the tools they need to do it,” says Innes.

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