Project set to prove the sun shines in Southland

The country’s first regional solar pilot scheme has been launched right here in Southland.

Venture Southland, in partnership with SolarCity, is running the Southland Solar Pilot Project with the support of all three councils.

Southland is perceived as having less-than-sunny skies, but Southland District Council, Gore District Council and Invercargill City Council have endorsed the pilot to debunk myths that solar water heating won't perform well in Southland.

Southland District Council Mayor Frana Cardno welcomes the launch of the pilot scheme. “This pilot will give Southland residents and businesses confidence in the solar hot water systems available to them and demonstrate the financial and environmental benefits they provide.”

“Homes in Southland are exposed annually to 20 to 30 times more energy from the sun than they consume in electricity, gas and oil. This pilot is designed to assess how much support there is for use of solar in Southland and to collect data on exactly how much money solar can save the community.” said Andrew Booth, CEO of SolarCity New Zealand Limited.

The launch of the pilot received a positive response with more than 100 homes and businesses registering their interest. 20 homes and 5 businesses in Southland were chosen to take part in the pilot and will have monitored solar hot water systems installed.

Jochen and Freya Clemens of Gore, were selected to take part in the pilot and had a solar hot water system installed on 22 July 2011.

Freya Clemens said the rising cost of electricity, and solar being a “clean and green” option, were major factors in their decision to take part in the solar pilot project.

“We try to be more sustainable where we can and believe in using the energy that nature provides us with. Looking at the long term, solar is the way to go,” she said.

On a cold and cloudy winter day it still helps to produce energy. Even when it was snowing, the temperature gauge said the solar panel was 10 degrees! We are excited to see how much we will save through the system,” Mrs Clemens said.

All the homes and businesses selected to take part in the pilot will be able to use software to monitor the performance of their solar hot water systems, helping them to track their savings. The data collected across the year-long pilot scheme will be made available to residents and the councils to illustrate the financial and environmental benefits of a solar scheme.