Are you are interested in off-grid solar in Northland? It may be for research purposes, or to get a quote for an upcoming project.
Whatever your reasons, we hope you get some value from this article.
Whether it’s the Whangarei district or the Far North region, Northland has always been at the forefront of solar – and in particular off-grid solar – in New Zealand.
We attribute this to two factors:
- The Northland’s mild climate with abundant sunshine hours of about 2,000 per year
- The remoteness of the region with vast parts of the district isolated or very distant from grid-tied power
Off-grid solar in Northland vs anywhere else
The off-grid solar design process in Northland is the same as anywhere else in NZ. The design principles are the same and depend on the following factors:
Your daily load in winter. Your daily power use is expressed as kilowatt hours (kWh). Working with you, we calculate your daily power consumption over 24 hrs. The higher your kWh daily use, the larger your off grid solar system will need to be.
You can see the different sizing options on our off grid solar systems page. As the daily kWh of power usage increases, the system size increases through additional solar panels and additional battery modules.
In particular, your hot water heating, cooking and space heating will contribute the most towards your daily power consumption. This is true if you want your system to power these items.
Your local sunshine hours. We use the official sunshine hours for Northland (and our specialised software) as another factor to determine the size of your off grid solar system. Other considerations such as the orientation of panels and their aspect also need to be taken into account.
Other issues that will potentially affect your system design is shading from trees, other buildings or the local geography.
Your power use profile. There are a number of things to understand about your lifestyle that affect your ‘power use profile’ – and therefore your system size. These include your ability to use appliances during daylight hours (load shifting), the makeup of the family (or occupants) and your power use in summer compared to winter months.
You can visit our Off Grid Solar Systems page to view our sizing and pricing guidelines.
If your property is a holiday home, it might only be used during the summer months or at sunny weekends. If that’s the case, it will also influence how your system is designed.
Power Station has designed hundreds of off grid solar systems around the country over the last decade.
Northland has been a popular region for solar and in particular the more remote regions such as the Hokianga harbour, the outskirts of Whangarei, Paihia, Dargaville, Mangonui and Kaitaia, just to name a few.
You’ll find resources on this site that includes help if you need tiny house off grid solar advice, or help with sizing.
To learn more about our free design service or to get a quote, please get in touch.