Youth hostels go solar

Take a shower at a YHA hostel in the near future and your water will be heated by the sun.

The Youth Hostels Association of New Zealand, a charitable organisation, is investing in a $2.7 million solar energy network for 11 of its hostels. Based on output, that was the largest network in the country, Ben Cloake, sales manager for Sunshine Solar, said.

Once all systems are up and firing, the roofs will generate 609,000kwh of solar energy a year.

That is enough to power about 100 homes, do 300,000 loads of washing or run a low-energy lightbulb for more than 8000 years.

The three-year project will see more than 880 panels go up across hostels from Franz Josef to Auckland, and more than 3300 solar heating tubes, which will use the sun’s energy to warm up the water supply at each site.

‘‘Each single tube is an individual water heater,’’ Cloake said.

The $2.7m project included plumbing and new hot water systems, and would pay itself off in about six years, YHA New Zealand central area manager Chris Sperring said.

‘‘The bottom line commitment is people, profit, planet,’’ Sperring said. ‘‘Sustainability is paramount to the three of those things.’’

YHA Franz Josef was the first site to get the solar treatment, in March, when 108 square metres of solar panels were laid on the roof.

The system would eventually include Tesla powerwalls, Sperring said.

Made by the electric car company, these are essentially solar power storage systems, which can be tapped into once the sun sets.

PHOTO: FAIRFAX NZ Ben Cloake, left, sales manager at Sunshine Solar and Chris Sperring, central area manager for YHA New Zealand, atop the Wellington YHA hostel, where solar panels are going in as part of a $2.7m project understood to be the largest solar panel...