New Zealanders turning to solar power

New Zealand research has found that more and more of the country’s citizens are shifting their power to solar energy. The study was led by Dr Rebecca Ford, a lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Engineering and Computer Science, as part of the GREEN Grid project.

Of the participants surveyed for the study, 70% were unhappy with buying electricity from their power company and 60% would be willing to purchase PV in the future to generate their own electricity. In fact, the number of grid-connected small-scale systems in New Zealand has grown by 330% in the last two years.

The report also investigates what is stopping more New Zealanders getting on board with solar power in their homes and businesses. Dr Ford explained, “While there are significant financial benefits to installing a photovoltaic system in your home, it’s the high start-up costs and the lack of current financial incentives that put people off.”

Currently, there is no support from the government to encourage a greater uptake. But as noted in the report, there are new types of business models being trialled. For example, solar energy company Vector allows customers to lease a PV system, making it possible for people to choose solar energy generation even if they don’t have the money to invest in a system or do not own their own home.

Victoria University is heavily involved in the world of sustainability. It is New Zealand’s only signatory of the Talloires Declaration, a declaration of sustainability signed by more than 400 universities and colleges around the world. The university has also appointed New Zealand’s first Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Sustainability), Professor Charles Daugherty, to strengthen its contribution to a wide range of environmental issues.

“Victoria is home to the New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute and we have among our staff some of the scientists at the forefront of helping the world to understand the processes and consequences of the changing climate,” said Vice-Chancellor Professor Grant Guilford, who this week joined the estimated 400,000 people on the ‘People’s Climate March’ in New York ahead of the United Nations climate summit.

“My role is to work across the organisation to not only raise the profile of the work in this area but, more importantly, to allow us to perform at a higher level in advancing environmental research and advancing our environmental performance as a large institution.”

Professor Guilford, who has been meeting with ex-pats in the United States and Europe, says climate change and sustainability are top-of-mind issues for a lot of New Zealanders overseas.