Guides
Commercial and farm solar, explained with real numbers
What it costs, what it returns, how to finance it and what works for your industry, written for South Island businesses.
The complete guide
Commercial solar in New Zealand: costs, payback and how to decide
What commercial solar really costs in 2026, the payback you can honestly expect, and how to decide whether it stacks for your business.
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In this guide
- Investment Boost on solar: what the 20 percent deduction is actually worthThe 20 percent immediate deduction is worth about 5.6 percent of project cost in year-one cash at the company rate. The honest maths, not the marketing version.
- Solar buy-back rates for businesses: export is not the prizeRetailers pay 7 to 17 cents for export while self-use avoids 20.4 to 25.5 cents. The over-10kW catch, the July 2026 rule change and why sizing beats plan shopping.
- What a commercial solar feasibility study includes, and when you need oneHalf-hourly analysis, satellite irradiance, honest financing and a 25-year model you can audit: what a real study includes and the vendor red flags.
- Solar finance for NZ businesses: loans, PPAs and what actually stacksGreen loans, the ASB 0 percent rural offer, PPAs and the Investment Boost, compared honestly: including who keeps the tax benefit and what happens when dated offers lapse.
- Solar power for dairy farms: the honest numbersMilking peaks in the dark. Solar pays on chilling, effluent pumping and water heating instead: what works, what it costs and a worked reference.
- Solar for wineries and vineyards: Marlborough to Central OtagoWineries are refrigeration businesses, which is why solar fits. The published Coterie, Matua and Yealands numbers, and honest vintage modelling.
- Solar for cold stores and packhouses: refrigeration is the loadRefrigeration is up to 85 percent of a coolstore's energy and a near-perfect solar load: daytime, warm-season and year-round. Costs, sizing and design.
- Solar for irrigation in NZ: pivots, pump sheds and what solar really savesSolar for centre pivots and pump sheds, modelled: pumping energy by water source, what an irrigation connection lets solar save, and the daylight pumping test.
- Government subsidies for solar in NZ: what businesses and farms can actually getThere is no government subsidy for solar in New Zealand. What has closed, what a business or farm can use instead, and what the election could change.
- Commercial electricity prices in NZ: what South Island businesses pay in 2026What businesses pay for power (25.5 cents a kWh on average), what each South Island lines company changed in 2025 and 2026, and where wholesale prices went.
- Is solar worth it for a NZ business? Payback by sector and regionPayback for every South Island region and daily pattern from our calculator, what moves it most, and the cases where solar does not pay.