Guide
Solar finance for NZ businesses: loans, PPAs and what actually stacks
Michael Wilkins · Updated 2 October 2026 · 4 min read
The short answer
NZ businesses fund solar four ways: cash, bank green lending, dated offers like ASB's Smart Solar Loan (0 percent for five years up to $150,000 for rural customers, when available), or PPAs with no upfront cost but no asset ownership. Owning the system captures the Investment Boost deduction; PPAs hand it to the provider.
The options, honestly compared
There are four ways to pay for commercial solar in New Zealand: cash, green business lending, a dated special offer like the ASB Smart Solar Loan, or a power purchase agreement where you never own the system. The table below is the comparison we wish more vendors published, including who captures the Investment Boost deduction.
The ASB Smart Solar Loan, a dated rural offer
A standout dated offer has been ASB's Smart Solar Loan: 0 percent fixed for five years on up to $150,000 of professionally installed solar and battery on rural property, for ASB rural customers, reverting to ASB's floating base rate after the fixed term. Offers like this run to bank deadlines and then lapse or renew, so treat it as an example of what rural lending can look like and check ASB for current terms.
Two honest notes. First, an interest-free $150,000 over five years means repayments of about $2,500 a month, so the offer suits projects whose savings can carry that pace, and larger projects stack it with other lending for the remainder. Second, offers like this lapse and renew on bank timetables: this page is dated, and our calculator and proposals only ever include offers that are live on the day you run them. If the ASB offer has lapsed by the time you read this, the rest of the structure below still stands.
Bank green lending beyond the headline offer
- ANZ, ASB and BNZ have offered green asset lending around $80,000 at roughly 1 percent for three years (terms as marketed through 2025/26; confirm current pricing with the bank).
- Westpac has offered up to $50,000 interest-free over five years for qualifying sustainable upgrades.
- ASB's Business Sustainability Loan covers $25,000 to $2 million for larger projects at discounted floating rates.
Rates and caps churn. The point is structural: green lending consistently prices below standard business term debt, and solar qualifies almost everywhere. We stack offers cheapest rate first across their caps and show any uncovered remainder plainly.
PPAs: no capital, no asset
A PPA removes the upfront cost entirely: the provider installs, owns and maintains the system, and you contract to buy its output, typically for 10 to 20 years (Sunergise and Future Energy both publish NZ terms). For some balance sheets that is exactly right. But you do not own the asset, so the Investment Boost deduction goes to the provider, the contract encumbers the site through a sale, and the per-kWh price you pay is where the provider's margin lives. Run the lifetime comparison before signing: loan-funded ownership usually wins where the covenant allows it.
The grant that closed, and why that is fine
You may still find pages promoting EECA's Solar on Farms fund. It closed to applications on 16 October 2025; 40 farms were selected and 37 demonstration farms were under way by May 2026, and no successor fund has been announced. Some installer content has not caught up; do not build a 2026 decision on a 2025 grant. The durable levers are the tax treatment and the lending above, and they are enough: most viable projects can be structured so repayments sit below the power savings.
What exists today, programme by programme, is in government subsidies for solar in NZ.
How we stack it
01
Cheapest rate first
Each live offer is applied up to its cap, cheapest first, before standard lending covers any remainder. The stack is shown loan by loan, never blended into a vague rate.
02
Investment Boost stated truthfully
The deduction's year-one cash value at your entity's tax rate, roughly 5.6 percent of cost for a 28 percent company, shown as tax cash, never subtracted from the price as a fake discount.
03
Claims earn their wording
Cashflow positive from month one gets said only when the entire cost is financed and repayments still sit below the modelled saving. Otherwise we show the numbers plainly and say nothing fancy.
The wider decision framework lives in the commercial solar guide, and the tax mechanics in the Investment Boost explainer.
The numbers
| Route | Upfront cost | You own the asset | Investment Boost | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | Full cost | Yes | Yes, at your tax rate | Opportunity cost of capital |
| Green business loan | None to low | Yes | Yes, at your tax rate | Caps per offer; stack for larger projects |
| ASB Smart Solar Loan | None | Yes | Yes, at your tax rate | Rural customers; dated offer, check current terms; floating rate after year five |
| PPA | None | No | No, provider keeps it | 10 to 20 year contract; margin inside the kWh price |
Your numbers
Run your own numbers
Your farm or business
Your indicative numbers
Conservative, ex GST, modelled not promised
Measure
- Power used
- 188,235 kWh a year
- Your spend at 25.5c a kWh ex GST, the national commercial average.
- Power bill
- $48,000 a year
Design
- System
- 83 kW
- Sized to your daytime load.
- Generates
- 101,260 kWh a year
- Used on site
- 80%
- The rest exports at 8c a kWh.
- Installed cost
- $124,263 to $165,526
- Confirmed with certified installers.
Finance
- Investment Boost, year one
- about $8,114
- A 20% immediate tax deduction, worth this in cash at the 28% company rate. Not a discount.
- ASB Smart Solar Loan
- $2,415 a month
- 0% for 5 years. Reverts to a floating business rate after five years. Terms checked against asb.co.nz on 8 October 2026. ASB may change or withdraw the offer; the calculator only shows it while it matches.
- Estimated saving
- $1,684 a month
- Mid estimate, set against the repayment while the loan runs.
Outcome
- Saving
- $18,146 to $22,277 a year
- Payback
- 5.5 to 8.5 years
- Net of the Investment Boost benefit.
- Emissions avoided
- 6.0 t CO₂e a year
- Asset life
- 25+ years
- Panels keep producing long after payback.
How this is modelled (assumptions v2026-10-v7)
- Power valued at $0.20 to $0.26/kWh ex GST (savings are never valued at the top of the commercial tariff range).
- Export credited at $0.08/kWh, the conservative end of current buy-back rates.
- Installed cost interpolated from 30 kW ($1,800 to $2,600/kW) down to 500 kW ($1,100 to $1,500/kW), 2025/26 working ranges.
- Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes yield modelled at 1220 kWh per kW per year.
- Self-consumption capped by your daytime usage profile and held below typical vendor claims; sizing targets 90 percent of daytime load.
- Investment Boost stated as the year-one cash value of the 20 percent immediate deduction at the 28 percent company rate. It is a tax timing benefit, not a discount.
- No power price escalation and no panel degradation in simple payback; omitting escalation outweighs degradation, so the net effect is conservative.
Indicative only; not financial or tax advice. The feasibility study models your site from twelve months of actual bills.
Next step
Get these numbers checked properly
The real model is built from twelve months of your bills. Send your details and we will do it for you; we reply within one working day, no obligation.
Straight answers
The questions we get asked
What is the ASB Smart Solar Loan?
A business term loan at 0 percent fixed for five years on up to $150,000 for professionally installed solar and battery on rural property, for ASB rural customers, reverting to ASB's floating rate after the fixed term. This is a dated offer that lapses and renews on ASB's timetable, so check what is currently available before deciding; our calculator only shows offers that are live on the day.
Which bank is best for a solar loan?
It depends on the site and the size of the job. For on-farm solar, ASB's Smart Solar Loan is the offer to check first while it runs; our calculator only shows it when it is live. For larger business projects, compare the major banks' green or sustainability business lending on rate, term and fees. Either way, judge the loan by setting its monthly repayment against the monthly power saving, not by the headline rate.
What is a solar PPA and who owns the system?
Under a power purchase agreement a provider installs and owns the system on your site and you buy the electricity it generates, typically on a 10 to 20 year contract. No upfront cost, but you do not own the asset: the provider captures the Investment Boost deduction, and the long contract follows the site.
What are the disadvantages of a solar PPA?
You never own the system. The provider claims the Investment Boost deduction and the depreciation, your saving is limited to the gap between the PPA price and your retail rate, and a 10 to 20 year contract stays with the site, which can complicate a sale or refinance. You also depend on the provider for the whole term. Loan-funded ownership usually wins over the life of the system when repayments sit below the saving.
Can a business get solar with no upfront cost?
Yes, two ways: a PPA, where a provider owns the system and sells you the power, or 100 percent debt funding through green business lending, where you own the asset and capture the tax benefits. Loan-funded ownership usually wins on lifetime value when the repayments sit below the savings; we model both honestly.
Are there government grants for commercial solar in NZ?
Not as a cash grant. EECA's Solar on Farms demonstration fund closed to applications on 16 October 2025; 40 farms were selected and 37 were under way by May 2026, and no successor fund has been announced. EECA co-funds feasibility studies only for organisations spending over $1.5 million a year on energy. Build the case on tax treatment and lending, not grants.
Can I combine a green loan with Investment Boost?
Yes, and the combination is the standard structure: the loan carries the capital cost while Investment Boost returns roughly 5.6 percent of the project in year-one tax cash for a company taxpayer. When repayments on the stacked loans sit below the monthly power saving, the project is cashflow positive from the start, a claim we only make when the whole cost is covered.
More from this guide
- Commercial solar in New Zealand: costs, payback and how to decide
- Investment Boost on solar: what the 20 percent deduction is actually worth
- Solar buy-back rates for businesses: export is not the prize
- What a commercial solar feasibility study includes, and when you need one
- Solar power for dairy farms: the honest numbers
- Solar for wineries and vineyards: Marlborough to Central Otago
- Solar for cold stores and packhouses: refrigeration is the load
- Solar for irrigation in NZ: pivots, pump sheds and what solar really saves
- Government subsidies for solar in NZ: what businesses and farms can actually get
- Commercial electricity prices in NZ: what South Island businesses pay in 2026
- Is solar worth it for a NZ business? Payback by sector and region
See your stack
The calculator stacks the offers that are live today, cheapest first, and states the Investment Boost at your tax rate. Two minutes, no contact details.