Kiwi neighbourhoods with highest rooftop solar rates
An analysis of New Zealand electricity data reveals that rooftop solar adoption is heavily concentrated in wealthy neighborhoods. Experts suggest that homeownership and access to green loans are the primary drivers of installation, rather than household income alone.
Why it matters
The findings underscore the socioeconomic barriers to renewable energy adoption and inform the debate on how to incentivize green technology for broader demographics.
Household wealth, home ownership rates and the 'neighbourhood effect' are driving rooftop solar rates in the absence of widespread incentives, advocates say.
An RNZ analysis of Electricity Authority data has found that Wānaka and Pāpāmoa Beach have the highest numbers of household solar installations in the country, generating about 50 percent more energy than anywhere else in the country.
Wānaka also had one of the highest rates of installations, with 17 percent of houses boasting some level of solar generation.
Earlier this year, New Zealand hit a milestone, with enough solar energy capacity now installed to generate a gigawatt of electricity - about half of it on people's homes.
Across New Zealand, the installation rate on residential dwellings was just four percent - far behind Australia, where incentives have driven uptake over the last 15 years to more than a third of all households.
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