Council slow to warm on solar heating support

BY PENNY WARDLE

The Marlborough District Council's plans to lend money to people installing solar hot water heating lag well behind solar support over the hill in Nelson.

Solar hot water heating was the focus of a Sustainability Speakers Series talk by Simon Kneebone of SolarCity in Blenheim last week.

He outlined Nelson City's Solar Saving scheme and a pilot project his company is introducing in Marlborough. Nelson was one of 11 councils which waived resource consent costs for solar water heating installation, Mr Kneebone told the meeting.

As well as offering a rates-attached loan for solar water heating, the Nelson council co-ordinated a tender of potential suppliers resulting in a 20 per cent saving for purchasers.

After the meeting, council financial services manager Murray South confirmed that the Marlborough council opted not to spend money on energy efficiency because the uptake was unknown and there was no benefit to ratepayers overall. He said loans would instead be offered to Marlborough ratepayers who took up Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority grants to install domestic solar water heating as well as insulation and home heating. These would bridge the gap between the EECA's $1000 grant and the cost of purchasing and installing solar systems.

The council was simply offering finance, said Mr South. The idea was to offer a service that had no cost to ratepayers who did not directly benefit, but which promoted energy efficiency and health in the district.

Tim Newsham of the Marlborough Environment Centre said the Marlborough council should use Nelson's Solar Saving Scheme, which was part of the city's Sustainable Cities approach, as an example. He said the Marlborough council should consider lobbying the Government for the ability to modify the district's building code to include solar requirements. Uptake of solar heating here had been disappointing, Mr Newsham said.

In the mid 1980s he was involved with the council's Solar Heights subdivision which despite initial intentions included no solar requirement covenants.

Mr Kneebone said SolarCity was now talking to a bank that might look at offering similar solar water heating loans on mortgages. The advantage of a council loan was that it was attached to the property. If a house was sold, the vendor could either pay off the loan or transfer it with the property.

The Nelson council was especially receptive to a solar incentives programme, because a number of councillors had been elected on an environmental platform so were keen to deliver sustainability results, said Mr Kneebone.

He said SolarCity's pilot project involved working with the Marlborough council to assess public support for solar heating in the region and pilot a new monitoring system designed to improve solar hot water systems' performance and the savings made. The initiative was supported by EECA and the Tindall Foundation.

The Marlborough council does not record numbers of solar water heating systems installed in the district, as consents were lumped in with all plumbing and drainage consents.

The Marlborough District Council proposes borrowing up to half a million dollars a year to lend on to ratepayers installing solar water heating, insulation and clean heating.

Council financial services manager Murray South said the energy efficiency loans would have to be paid back over 10 years, initially at 7 per cent to be reviewed each year plus a $100 administration fee.
The loans proposal is included in Marlborough's 2010-11 annual plan and as a proposed amendment to the long-term community plan, with submissions due by May 6.

Simon Kneebone, of Nelson company SolarCity, was the speaker at last week's Sustainable Speaker Series highlighting solar energy. He said the Nelson City Council borrowed $9 million to offer a balloted loan to 200 ratepayers installing solar water heating at 7.8 per cent interest fixed over 10 years.

He said the interest paid was proving roughly equivalent to the money saved on each year's power bill.

The Nelson Council tendered for solar suppliers, said Mr Kneebone. Eighteen companies responded and four, including SolarCity, were accepted.

In the first eight weeks that the loans were offered, double the number of solar water heating units was installed in Nelson over the previous year.

The result of this competitive tender was a 20 per cent price saving for consumers, said Mr Kneebone. Track record and reputation were considered as well as price.

In Marlborough, because people would individually purchase systems and arrange installation, cost savings might be less significant, he said.

Asked about photovoltaic panels, Mr Kneebone said their cost reached an historic low last month due to the recession. People had put off the decision of installing the solar power generating panels, creating a worldwide glut, he said.

A bugbear for Mr Kneebone was the real estate industry's failure to acknowledge the energy efficiency features as selling points to attract potential buyers. His company recently worked with engineering consultants Beca to develop an energy rating for houses and was delighted that a Nelson real estate company had come on board to trial this.

Rob Marshall, of Marlborough Plumbing and Heating, said the cost of installing solar water heating would range from $5000 to $8000, including GST.

A director of Blenheim architectural design company Design HQ Ltd, Tony Fitzpatrick, said the Marlborough District Council's loan proposal made sense, with savings made on the power bill each year roughly equivalent to annual repayments. Most Marlborough clients considered energy efficiency measures, although these were not always included in the final design.

Five or six years ago people tended to be put off by the nine to 10-year payback, but their motivation was now more holistic, he said.

FEES WAIVED

Councils which waive resource consent fees for ratepayers installing solar water heating systems include: Dunedin City Council Queenstown District Council Carterton District Council Hutt City Council Nelson City Council Stratford District Council Taupo District Council Westland District Council Hamilton City Council Waitakere City Council South Waikato District Council

- The Marlborough Express