Add an integrated solar energy system to your property to generate your own green energy.

It depends on the size of the system, whether you’re adding a battery, and what your roof and switchboard need. We assess your power use and your site first, then give you a quote that includes the components, the warranties and the total. Quotes are free with no obligation. Many banks also offer green loans for solar, some at low or zero interest, so you can spread the cost and pay it off as your power bills come down. Terms vary, so check with your bank.

It’s determined by how much power you use and when you use it, not by how much room you have for panels. We look at your power bills and smart meter data to see your actual usage pattern. A household that’s out all day uses most of its power in the evening, so it needs a different setup from a family with someone home during the day, or a farm running irrigation.

That depends on your usage, your system size and how much of your generation you use on site rather than exporting back to the grid. The single biggest factor is timing: running the dishwasher, washing machine, hot water and EV charging during the day instead of the evening can substantially change your return. We’ll give you a realistic estimate for your property based on your consumption data, and we’ll keep it conservative.

Yes. Any system that connects to the network needs approval from Northpower before it can be connected and energised, and that application is part of what we handle for you. Approval isn’t automatic. Northpower assesses the effect on the local network, and in some areas they’ll limit how much you can export.

Yes, but not at the price you pay for it. Your electricity retailer sets the buy-back rate, and it’s typically well below the retail rate you’re charged, so it pays to use as much of your own generation as you can. Your export may also be capped. Northpower or your retailer can limit how much you’re allowed to push back into the network, which is another reason system size should follow your consumption. We’ll tell you what applies at your address before you commit.

Not on its own, and this catches people out. A standard grid-connected system shuts down during an outage, by design and by law, so it can’t feed power into lines that someone may be working on. To have power during an outage you need a battery with backup capability, configured to isolate your house from the network and keep selected circuits running. If riding out storm outages matters to you, let us know early, because it affects which inverter and battery we specify.

Not necessarily, and plenty of good systems don’t have one. A battery makes sense if you use most of your power outside daylight hours, if you want backup during outages, or if your export is capped so there’s little value in sending power to the grid. It adds significantly to the cost, so we’ll only recommend one if it suits how you use power. If you’re not sure, a hybrid inverter lets you install solar now and add a battery later without replacing the inverter. We install Tesla, BYD and Victron batteries, and we’re Tesla Powerwall Certified Installers.

Most Northland roofs are, but three things matter: orientation, shading and condition. North facing is best, east and west still work with some loss, and south facing generally doesn’t stack up. Shading from trees, chimneys or neighbouring buildings affects output more than people expect. The main thing to consider is roof condition and age. If the roof will need replacing within the next decade, do it before the panels go on, because taking a system off and refitting it is an avoidable cost. We assess all of this during the site visit and will tell you honestly if solar isn’t right for your roof.

Four stages: network approval, installation, independent inspection, and the meter change. We apply to Northpower for approval, and once that’s granted we schedule the install. After installation the system must be independently inspected by a licensed electrical inspector, which we arrange. Your retailer then swaps your meter for an import and export meter, and the system stays switched off until that’s done. Retailer and metering fees are charged by your power company, not by us. You’ll also need Wi-Fi or a network cable at the inverter for monitoring.

Three separate things: the product warranty, the performance warranty and our workmanship guarantee. Product warranties cover the hardware. Performance warranties cover generation, guaranteeing the panels still produce a stated percentage of their rated output after a given number of years. Our 10-year workmanship guarantee covers our installation: the mounting, the wiring, the commissioning. Inverter, battery and racking warranties vary between manufacturers, and we’ll indicate exactly what applies to your system in the quote.

Northland gets plenty of sunshine, so it’s well suited to solar. Output drops on heavily overcast days and is lower through winter than summer, which is normal and is factored into any sizing we do. Panels also work slightly more efficiently in cooler conditions than in extreme heat. What matters more than weather is shading and orientation, which we will assess during our initial site visit.

Very little, but not none. Panels should be cleaned annually, more often on coastal properties where salt film builds up, and the mounting hardware and electrical connections should be checked at the same time. The other habit worth getting into is looking at your monitoring occasionally. A slow drop in output is easy to miss, and a fault can go unnoticed for months while your system underperforms. We offer solar maintenance and cleaning as an ongoing service.