Solar Water Heating Update

When we last reported on our lending for solar water heating installations in the April 2007 newsletter the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) assisted finance scheme had been progressing well. At that time we had made around $2.5 million in SWH loans over the previous six months, helping to finance just under 600 SWH installations.

Changes to the EECA scheme in 2007 had a significant impact on the uptake of SWH loans over the remainder of the scheme. Those changes involved increasing the subsidy from $300 to $500 per installation for systems that had been tested and met cost-effectiveness requirements. Unfortunately, delays to implementation of these planned amendments resulted in a slow-down in loan applications over the remainder of that scheme.

Nevertheless, we made a further $1.3 million in SWH loans over the remainder of that 2006/07 EECA scheme, helping to finance another 270 installations. The 2007/08 scheme, which introduced a direct cash grant option, resulted in a sharp drop-off in loan applications as those people who were purchasing tested packaged systems under the EECA scheme seemed to prefer the cash grant.

However, in the period since the new tested systems approach was due to start in April last year we have financed around $0.5 million of SWH loans outside of the EECA scheme. These SWH installations were for systems that did not fit within the new EECA criteria.

Recent changes to EECA's solar water heating grant scheme announced in the 2008 Budget may see some revival of interest in the loan option. The cash grant and finance assistance subsidy are both being increased to $1,000 and changes to the cost-effectiveness calculations should see more systems eligible for assistance.

If you want more information about finance assistance available from EECA for SWH installations see www.solarsmarter.org.nz