Turn Central Otago sunshine into cheaper packing and cold storage
Design, financing and installation management for orchards, packhouses and cold stores. You own the asset; we make the numbers stack up before you spend anything.
The short answer
Commercial solar in Central Otago typically pays back in four to seven years for orchards, packhouses and cold stores, because cooling load peaks with the sun. A 60 to 250 kW system offsets daytime power at 25 to 40 cents per kilowatt hour, and the Investment Boost deduction reduces the net cost from year one.
Central Otago orchards and packhouses run on refrigeration. Coolstores, controlled atmosphere rooms, graders and compressors draw hardest through the bright months, which is precisely when the region's sunshine peaks. That alignment between load and generation is what makes the economics here the strongest we model anywhere in the South Island.
We are not an installer. Involve Energy designs the system, models the financials against your own bills, arranges the financing stack and project-manages SEANZ-certified local crews through to commissioning. You get an owned asset, an independent model and one point of accountability.
- 1
Feasibility
Send twelve months of power bills. We model system size, generation against your load, self-consumption, cost, savings and payback on your numbers, not industry averages.
- 2
Financing
We apply the Investment Boost deduction and match the remainder to the best available green or interest-free business lending, sized so the repayment sits at or below your current bill wherever the numbers support it.
- 3
Installation
Certified local crews install and commission the system. We manage the lines company approval, the electrical certification and the programme around your harvest and packing calendar.
- 4
Monitoring
Once live, we watch performance, flag anything underperforming and report your actual savings, so the asset keeps earning what the model said it would.
Power prices rose across the South Island in 2025 and lines charges are approved to keep rising to 2030. A solar system sized to your daytime load fixes a large share of your power cost for twenty-five years, and the surplus earns export credit rather than going to waste.
What the numbers look like
| System size | Indicative installed cost | Indicative annual saving | Indicative payback |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 kW | $54,000 to $78,000 | $8,000 to $10,000 | 5.5 to 9 years |
| 60 kW | $98,000 to $135,000 | $16,000 to $19,000 | 5 to 8 years |
| 100 kW | $140,000 to $180,000 | $27,000 to $32,000 | 4 to 6 years |
| 250 kW | $275,000 to $375,000 | $68,000 to $81,000 | 3 to 5 years |
Proof it works here
Forest Lodge Orchard
Forest Lodge Orchard at Cromwell runs as the world's first fully electric cherry orchard: no fossil fuels on site, with around 160 kW of solar and battery storage powering irrigation, frost fighting and electric machinery, and surplus exported to the grid. Figures as publicly reported by the orchard. It is the clearest proof of what Central Otago sunshine can do for horticulture.
- System
- 160 kW
Run your own numbers
Conservative assumptions, fully disclosed, no contact details needed.
Your indicative numbers
Conservative, ex GST, modelled not promised
System size
69 kW
Sized to your daytime load
Installed cost
$108,823 to $148,646
Confirmed with certified installers
Investment Boost, year one
about $7,209
A 20% immediate tax deduction, worth this in cash at the 28% company rate. Not a discount.
Estimated annual saving
$18,779 to $22,257
80% of generation used on site
Indicative payback
4.5 to 7.5 years
Net of the Investment Boost benefit
Asset life
25+ years
Panels keep producing long after payback
ASB Smart Solar Loan: 0% for 5 years
Your current bill
$4,000/month
Loan repayment
$2,146/month
Estimated saving
$1,710/month
Reverts to a floating business rate after five years.
On these numbers the monthly repayment of $2,146 sits at or below your current bill of $4,000 while the loan runs, and the power keeps getting cheaper after it ends.
How this is modelled (assumptions v2026-06-v3)
- Power valued at $0.25 to $0.30/kWh ex GST (savings are never valued at the top of the commercial tariff range).
- Export credited at $0.08/kWh, the conservative end of current buy-back rates.
- Installed cost interpolated from 30 kW ($1,800 to $2,600/kW) down to 500 kW ($1,100 to $1,500/kW), 2025/26 working ranges.
- Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes yield modelled at 1260 kWh per kW per year.
- Self-consumption capped by your daytime usage profile and held below typical vendor claims; sizing targets 90 percent of daytime load.
- Investment Boost stated as the year-one cash value of the 20 percent immediate deduction at the 28 percent company rate. It is a tax timing benefit, not a discount.
- No power price escalation and no panel degradation in simple payback; omitting escalation outweighs degradation, so the net effect is conservative.
Indicative only; not financial or tax advice. The feasibility study models your site from twelve months of actual bills.
Get these numbers checked properly
The real model is built from twelve months of your bills. Send your details and we will do it for you; we reply within one working day, no obligation.
Straight answers
What does commercial solar cost for an orchard, packhouse or cold store?
Indicative installed costs in 2026 run from roughly $1,800 to $2,600 per kW at 30 kW, down to $1,100 to $1,500 per kW at 250 kW and above, ex GST. A typical 100 kW packhouse system lands between $140,000 and $180,000 installed. We confirm exact pricing with certified local installers before you commit, and the feasibility study models cost against your actual bills.
What payback should a Central Otago orchard or cold store expect?
Most well-matched sites model out at four to seven years, and the panels keep producing for twenty-five or more. Central Otago has some of the best sunshine in the country, and cooling load peaks with the sun. The biggest drivers are how much of the generation you use on site and your current tariff, which is why we model from twelve months of your real bills rather than averages.
How does the Investment Boost actually work?
The Investment Boost lets a business deduct 20 percent of a new asset's cost immediately, with the remaining 80 percent depreciating as normal. It is a tax timing benefit, not a discount: for a company paying the 28 percent rate it is worth roughly 5.6 percent of the system cost in year-one cash, with no value cap. We state it that way in every model. None of this is tax advice; your accountant confirms the treatment.
Can the repayments really sit at or below our current power bill?
Often, yes. Banks currently offer green business lending for solar, including interest-free terms for on-farm systems, and we size the finance so the monthly repayment sits at or below the power spend it replaces wherever the numbers genuinely support it. When they do not, we show you that plainly. Either way you own the asset from day one rather than renting your power.
Do we need batteries?
Not always. Packhouses and cold stores use most of their power while the sun is up, which is exactly when solar produces, so many sites start with panels only and add storage later. Batteries earn their keep when you need resilience through outages, want to shift evening load, or want to capture premium export rates. The feasibility study models both ways so you can see the difference.
What about winter and the shoulder seasons?
Solar output in Central Otago is strongly seasonal: long, bright summers and short winter days. We size systems against your monthly load profile rather than the annual average, so the model shows month-by-month self-consumption honestly. For most packing and cooling operations the heavy load arrives in the high-production months, which is also when the panels produce most.
Who installs the system, and what approvals are needed?
Installation is carried out by SEANZ-member certified local crews holding the Mains Parallel Generation endorsement, with an electrical Certificate of Compliance and an independent Record of Inspection. Grid connection needs Distributed Generation approval from your lines company before the system goes live. We manage that paperwork, the lender's requirements and the installer, and you sign once.
Will the solar keep running during a power cut?
A standard grid-tied system shuts down in an outage for line-crew safety, so on its own it will not back up your coolstore. If outage resilience matters, we design with a battery and backup capability that can island the site. It costs more, so we model it separately and let the numbers and your risk tolerance decide.
See your numbers before you commit to anything
Send us a recent power bill and we will model system size, cost, savings and payback against your actual usage. Independent, no obligation, and yours to keep.