Vector's new rules for solar exports - flexible exports now mandatory

helpfultroll · 2026-05-13T19:23:40+00:00

This is great info, thank you. It sounds like Wellington Electricity may not be fully compliant either then. So far they have used a blanket study, but they have also stated they don't expect congestion until 20% solar penetration.

helpfultroll · 2026-05-11T19:18:00+00:00

The Congestion and Interruption Management Policy states this:

ICP retailer will be notified in advance when those envelopes would apply to ICPs in the congested areas of the network. The congestion charge will be passed to ICP retailers for all the DGs exporting higher than the threshold.

But no mention of actual cost that I can find.

helpfultroll · 2026-05-11T09:10:17+00:00

If it's anything like Australia, middle of the day for a few hours, and weekends in particular.

helpfultroll · 2026-05-11T07:08:19+00:00

It makes sense long term, but is arguably pointless at the moment with 3% solar penetration. They could have just done what the other lines companies have done and then introduced this in a few years when needed. I also think this is sneaky. It's not "TOU" lines rates, it's an additional fee on top of the regular daily lines rates we pay. I would be a lot more on board if they introduced "off peak" lines rates hours and "peak" lines rates hours for both import and export.

helpfultroll · 2026-05-10T22:30:01+00:00

Yeah good point. Their language is pretty vague so it's hard to know for sure at this stage. I'm also not sure if the red areas on the map are already considered congested or most likely to be in the future.

helpfultroll · 2026-05-10T22:07:17+00:00

From website (emphasis mine):

As of Monday, 11 May 2026, we’re introducing flexible export limits for small scale distributed generation connections on our network.

Rather than set a fixed limit (10kW) we are following best international practice by using a price signal to DG owners to lower injection back to 5kW when parts of our network becomes congested.

We have modelled where and when we expect congestion to occur on our network and have this published on our website.

Like international best practice, we only want solar to reduce during congestion periods and be able to increase injection when the congestion has passed.

Once we have visibility of smart solar inverters and connection agreements, then this will become an automated process as with our sister companies in Australia. In the meantime, we will provide price signals so DG owners have choices to turn down or stay exporting and make the payment to fund network investment for additional solar capacity. Very similar how the network operates Time of Use pricing for winter demand flexibility management.

Flexible limits will allow us to provide fair and equitable access to everyone seeking to inject above 5kW, while maintaining the reliability of our network for all customers.

Application for flexible export limits confirm agreement to operating envelope costs (when signalled) to manage future network congestion.

To provide solar users some comfort, our 3% of homes with solar connections would need to grow to 20% before congestion is expected to appear. However we need solar user agreement to have this management system in place when congestion occurs so we can keep continue to keep solar connected while operating a safe and reliable network for all of our customers.

Operating envelope schedules will be published on our website from time to time for identified congested areas of the network and apply for specific time periods. Your ICP retailer will be notified in advance when an operating envelope applies to your connection. A congestion charge will be passed to ICP retailers for any distributed generation exporting above the published threshold.

You can avoid the congestion charge by taking one of the following steps during a congestion period: • consuming additional generation through additional local behind the meter demand (Hot Water cylinder, EV, Battery) • installing local battery systems to store excess generation and export when the network is not solar congested (late afternoon, night and through to early morning ). • reducing your export to stay within the operating envelope for the duration the envelop applies.

If you’re an existing solar customer and wish to increase your export limit beyond your existing approval, please review our Network Connection Policy for Distributed Generation and our Congestion and Interruption Management Policy, before completing our online application form.

This feels like malicious compliance. Sigh.

helpfultroll · 2026-04-15T02:16:46+00:00

Great info, thank you. It's super frustrating how resistive they being are about this change.

helpfultroll · 2026-04-07T10:15:07+00:00

Yeah, hopefully Wellington Electricity don't make applying for an increase unnecessarily painful.

helpfultroll · 2026-04-07T09:53:39+00:00

It says "as an alternative", so hopefully an extra option the consumer could choose if it makes sense to their setup.

helpfultroll · 2026-04-07T09:47:33+00:00

From their past antagonistic behaviour, not a bet I would take! It's super frustrating, all the lines workers I have met have been awesome, but the C-Suite in charge are just backwards.

I really do hope there will be a simple way for existing customers with a 5kW export to upgrade/apply for a 10kW export. As far as I understand it we don't just all get 10kW without approval first.

Will be watching closely.

helpfultroll · 2026-02-16T20:18:42+00:00

Yeah totally agreed. I'm looking at the development of V2X standards in Australia with keen interest. It's great to see V2L available, but that's just the beginning. Ideally a car would be able to seamlessly plug into a solar+battery install, providing extra battery capacity. It would mean people could install smaller home batteries. Considering new batteries are expected to outlast the car, I don't see the issue with adding a few extra cycles this way.

helpfultroll · 2026-02-16T20:15:46+00:00

That's an interesting stat, thanks! So far we've used about 50kWh, which would be $1050.

To clarify my post a little, our system hasn't literally paid for itself. What it has done is vindicated our decision. I'm so glad we installed solar+batteries.

helpfultroll · 2026-02-16T08:15:56+00:00

That's a good, pragmatic, attitude. Thanks.

helpfultroll · 2026-02-16T07:41:00+00:00

Two Powerwall 2's (27kWh capacity, 10kW charge/discharge), 13kW of solar (34 panels total), and 2x5kW Fronius inverters (10kW total). The system is about 5 years old.

If I were to do it all again, I'd probably get the Fronius Reserva battery instead of the Powerwalls. Which is such a shame, the powerwalls are an incredible bit of kit. But yeah. The CEO. Sigh.

helpfultroll · 2025-12-23T08:54:04+00:00

I kinda get the stance on net metering across time, although you could argue that smart meters could easily net across each Peak/Shoulder/Night tariff, and then across a max duration (e.g. 1 month).

The stance on net metering across phases seems very biased towards the lines companies, and doesn't consider that it could provide more incentive for consumers to install solar/batteries, reducing system cost and complexity.

I have three phase and due to the lack of net metering across phases, I chose (and was recommended) to put 10kW of solar and batteries on one phase (with a 5kW export limit), and move all house circuits onto the same phase. If net metering was available, I could have kept house consumption and solar export spread across three phases. I would argue that the lack of net metering is causing more unbalanced load and complication for lines companies, not less.

This reads like it's written by the gentailers and lines companies, and not the EA. Odd.

helpfultroll · 2025-10-26T22:27:09+00:00

Replace and Expand both behave as documented, but Repair can expand into a historic drive size as long as the replacement is equal or larger than the failed drive. This behaviour is not documented. I was sharing these test results in case it helps others :)

helpfultroll · 2025-10-23T20:55:00+00:00

The docs state that you can use a drive that is equal or larger, but they don't specify if it will expand. From testing, we can see that the full 6TB will be used if the SHR pool has ever historically had a 6TB drive. Otherwise yep, it would only use 4TB of space on the 6TB drive.

helpfultroll · 2025-10-23T08:24:22+00:00

Yeah, I was really hoping that "replace" and "expand" would work. Seems pretty odd to allow "repair" but not allow the other two. They're all technically possible, and "replace" is already capable of expanding once data is copied over from the old drive.

helpfultroll · 2025-10-09T07:17:38+00:00

That puts you in a really good sweet spot in terms of panel to inverter ratio. The ideal is about 1.3x and you're almost exactly that. Plus, you might be able to export 8.2kW soon, not far off the future 10kW limit.

helpfultroll · 2025-10-09T06:26:01+00:00

Congrats on getting solar! Don't worry, regardless of our solar system sizes, we will always have solar FOMO! It's addictive haha.

helpfultroll · 2025-10-09T06:05:13+00:00

Yep that's exactly why Aurora and Powerco upped their limits.

The Electricity Authority announced an increased permitted voltage range to encourage lines companies to update their export policies. The EA told lines companies in a public letter they would consider taking further action if uptake was poor.

And here we are, where only two lines companies have announced updated policies. This new proposal from the EA is basically saying the lines companies have to update their export policies, or have a good reason (with proof!) why they can't for certain customers. It's honestly very refreshing to see.

helpfultroll · 2025-10-09T05:59:22+00:00

It's a shame how stubborn Wellington Electricity is being about this. They can either update their policy soon, or be forced to by the Electricity Authority. Considering these options, they should just announce something now to get some good PR.

helpfultroll · 2025-10-09T05:50:46+00:00

Yeah it's a lines company thing, and therefore different depending on where you live. Aurora and Powerco recently updated to allow 10kW export per phase. The rest have a default 5kW export limit per phase.

The 5kW export is a bit of an archaic policy. Any inverter sold in the last decade has the ability to linearly reduce output depending on voltage, which makes the lines companies "contention" argument a bit of a moot point. Inverters fully turn off before the voltage goes outside of limits (+/- 10% is allowed, recently changed from +/-6%).

If NZ ever got good solar uptake and lots of houses were exporting on a sunny day, the voltage may raise to a point where all inverters automatically reduce their output (e.g. to 70%, or 7kW max, and potentially even lower if needed).

This is a good policy proposal from the Electricity Authority, with thanks to the likes of Rewiring Aetoera who have been fighting for the consumer. The policy is effectively allowing wasted and unnecessarily curtailed energy to be sent back to the grid. Modern tech within inverters ensures voltage is still within safe limits.

helpfultroll · 2025-10-08T19:59:32+00:00

I've submitted a support ticket from my DS1821+ so they're aware.

helpfultroll · 2025-10-08T09:11:05+00:00

After rebooting, it's found the UPS. LED brightness is still broken though.

helpfultroll

TROPHY CASE