New Plymouth council cashes in sunshine capital
- Craig Ashworth
- Jul 2
- 2 min read
New solar panels have cut over $1000 a month from New Plymouth council’s power bill – about a third of the cost of electricity in the building they’re installed on.
The 100 solar panels were mounted on the roof of New Plymouth District Council’s climate-controlled archives building in March.
They’re expected to generate 80,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year – about the same as 10 households and a third of the building’s power demand.
A smaller solar array was installed on the TSB Showplace roof and its 30,0000 kilowatt hours output would also provide a third of that building’s electricity.
The archives solar system cost $63,000 and the TSB Showplace $33,000.
NPDC’s climate change response lead Greg Stephens expected both systems to pay for themselves within six years.
“Like every household, we want to get the best deal possible on our power bills and what could be better than harnessing one of our district’s most plentiful resources – sunshine,” Stephens said.
New Plymouth has been crowned New Zealand’s sunniest spot for three of the past five years.
“It also makes sense for our local economy too because we employ local contractors,” Stephens said.
Since November around half of the council’s electricity has come from a 15-hectare solar farm at New Plymouth Airport, and the rest from renewable sources.
The airport is a council-owned company and NPDC buys power from it at about 20 per cent below the market rate for electricity.
NPDC’s average monthly power bill is $280,000, plus GST.
The district has over 11,000 streetlights, almost all running energy-efficient LED bulbs since 2019.
The council runs some 110 vehicles, including nine electric vehicles, 22 hybrids, and two plug-in hybrids.
Stephens said since 2018 NPDC’s carbon emissions from natural gas have fallen 24 percent, and emissions from electricity by 22 percent.
LDR is local body journalism hosted by Te Korimako o Taranaki and funded by Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa and Irirangi te Motu
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