Cut your power bill

Covering a land area the size of Rangitoto Island with solar panels would be enough to supply power to the whole country and for it become 100 per cent renewable.

“The challenge with solar to date has been the intermittent nature of the sun, and how to solve that intermittency? How to create a power solution that captures that energy? The solution lies in home batteries,” says solarcity CEO Andrew Booth.

In a world first, solarcity has teamed up with leading battery manufactuer Panasonic to develop a new solarZero battery platform that changes the way solar power can be stored and shared. It tracks home power usage, buying extra power if needed when the rates are low. It also provides emergency back-up power, giving added security during unpredictable outages and natural disasters.

solarZero gives New Zealanders a new way to power their homes on a subscription basis like Netflix, at a price which is up to 50 per cent cheaper than buying power from the grid. The solarZero service integrates solar panels and a unique new battery platform which delivers real-time control over key appliances and gives energy a voice through Alexa, a cloud-based voice service to check performance, answer questions and control your smart home.

The sleek battery unit can be housed in or outside the home. The batteries can also be daisy-chained together. And, it makes sure that if the grid goes down you are still able to power the majority of your home.

In an average year our electricity generation plants emit five million tonnes of carbon – 10 per cent of our carbon emissions.

“By delivering solar as a service to 500,000 homes and 5000 commercial rooftops in the next 10 years, solarZero can end New Zealand’s dependence on fossil fuel generation and generate cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy,” says Booth.

Find out how you can sign up for solarZero at solarcity.co.nz