Green light for New Zealand’s first Solar City Pilot

Developers of Nelson Solar City have announced the next stage of their project with the launch of a pilot scheme involving 25 homes and businesses.

Energyshift, which is leading the development, says the pilot scheme is the next step in testing the Solar City concept, which aims to see solar water heating installed on 1000 Nelson homes and businesses.

The scheme will use smart software to monitor and improve the performance of solar hot water systems, as well as provide financing options to make solar water heating more accessible, says Energyshift’s Andrew Booth.

Developers are thrilled to be awarded funding for the project from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority(EECA) ($100,000) and the Tindall Foundation ($50,000), which would enable it to go ahead, Mr Booth says. Both amounts will be matched by an equal investment by EnergyShift in the development of the Solar City initiative.

Nelson City Council is a partner in the project, and Mayor Kerry Marshall says he welcomes the launch of the pilot scheme.

“This pilot will give Nelson residents and businesses confidence in the solar hot water systems available to them and demonstrate the financial and environmental benefits they provide. The project fits well with the Council’s push to make Nelson New Zealand’s first Solar City.”

The climate is heating up far faster than predicated and some scientists believe we have only four years left to avert serious environmental damage from climate change.

Energyshift says the pilot will provide chosen home owners and businesses with a free energy audit and a state of the art smart software system to help them optimise their solar systems to make a difference in the fight against climate change.

“We are trying to find families and business that are willing to pay for a solar hot water system to be installed on their roofs and then work with our technical team to maximise the performance and savings the system generates.”

“Those interested in taking part should check out the website www.solarcity.co.nz , which will take them through three simple steps to see if their home or business is a good candidate to be part of the pilot,” Andrew Booth says.

EECA works to raise community awareness of energy efficiency and renewable energy issues, and provides businesses and individuals with the tools to make changes.

EECA’s solar spokesperson Nathan Ross says the Nelson Solar City could provide a useful model for other cities to copy.

“The project achieves several things at once: an advanced monitoring model that will provide useful data on solar water heating performance, as well as a way to make solar water heating more accessible to more households and businesses, reducing the region’s energy use and benefiting the environment for everyone,” Mr Ross said.

The Tindall Foundation is the largest independent private foundation in Australasia and is supporting a number of initiatives to reduce carbon emissions across New Zealand.

“The sun bathes the earth in an incredible amount of energy; in a day enough arrives to power the world for several years,” said Trevor Gray of the Tindall Foundation. “Nelson is world renowned for its beautiful climate and high sun-shine hours. We hope that by helping this pilot we can show how homeowners can harness this natural energy to help power the city and fight climate change and develop a template to dramatically increase the uptake of this technology throughout New Zealand.”

Andrew Booth says the pilot will involve a large team of Nelson based businesses which will include Applied Research Services Ltd, Blueberry IT software development, Pacific.Net and the Cawthron Institute.

“Our approach is designed to build Nelson as a national centre of expertise in Solar Technologies creating new green jobs here in Nelson and across New Zealand.”

EnergyShift is looking for 25 homes and businesses from across Nelson, Richmond and Stoke who want take part in the Solar City pilot. If you would like to be one of the first in the world to try out a smart software system designed to optimise the energy and cash savings solar hot water systems deliver please go to www.solarcity.co.nz to register.

Background

What is the Nelson Solar City project?

Nelson Solar City project is being developed by EnergyShift, and has the long term aim of improving energy security in the Nelson region, saving consumers money and fighting climate change by increasing the uptake of solar water heating systems.

The project aims to do this by providing an accurate measurement of the cost and environmental savings associated with solar water heating, and overcoming the upfront capital cost barrier to investing in solar water heating through an innovative financing scheme.

How can solar energy create savings for consumers?

Around 40% of energy consumed by an average home is used to heat water. By installing proven solar hot water heating systems we can cut this energy use by up to 75% and generate a $450 tax free cash saving for an average family every year.

What work has been done so far to test the viability of the scheme?

A feasibility study funded by EECA, Nelson City Council and EnergyShift has been carried out to gauge public interest in the scheme. The Nelson City Council is currently considering this study in the context of its long term community plan. The software for the monitoring system has been under development for the past two months and a single home trial has been conducted to develop and the test the systems that will be rolled our during the planned pilot.

What does the pilot scheme aim to achieve?

The pilot scheme involving 25 homes and businesses aims to measure the performance of particular solar hot water systems in several different types of premises, to calculate the savings that solar water heating can generate.

The software we have developed allows us to monitor in real time the performance of solar water heating systems, which means households and businesses can use the internet to see how well their system and other systems in Nelson are operating.

This will allow us to accurately calculate the greenhouse gas emissions saved by installing solar water heating, in order to trade the carbon credits generated.

The pilot scheme will allow us to test the electronic financing, installation and business processes involved, in order to scale up and successfully install 1,000 solar hot water installations in year 1 of the Solar City project.

ENDS

© Scoop Media