What is a distributed generation application?
How distributed generation approval works for home solar installation in New Zealand: who lodges it, what the lines company checks, and why export waits on that step.
A distributed generation application is the request to your lines company to connect a generator, such as rooftop solar, to their network. Home solar installation in New Zealand is not finished when the panels are screwed down. Grid-tied solar power installation has to be accepted by the network before you are allowed to export, and often before the system is switched on as designed.
The lines company is the business that owns the local poles and wires. Their name is on your power bill, separate from the retailer who sells you kilowatt-hours. The retailer later applies a buy-back plan. Those are two different organisations and two different jobs. Households lose weeks by treating them as one phone call.
Who lodges it
On a normal residential solar panel installation the installer lodges the application. They have the inverter model, the proposed kilowatts, the protection settings and the site address. Your job is to give them the address, the ICP number from the bill if they ask, and access details. Ask the quote to name the person who lodges it, and ask for a copy of the approval when it arrives.
You can track it without becoming the applicant. A quote that says the network side is your problem, with no named process, is a gap. The same quote should say who books the electrical inspection and who requests any meter or retailer change. That three-way split is the paperwork checklist in the timeline guide: https://homesolarinstallation.co.nz/blog/solar-installation-time-nz/
Under about 10 kW the residential path is usually simpler than a large commercial generator. Simpler still has a form, a technical schedule and a wait. Do not read simpler as instant.
What the lines company is deciding
The network is checking whether this connection can sit on the local transformer and lines without pushing voltage or capacity past what that street can carry. They look at inverter type, export capability, and the size of the array. They can approve the application, approve it with an export limit, or ask for a different design.
An export limit is a cap on how much power you may send out, not a comment on your roof. A large array behind a lower export cap will reduce output at midday when the house cannot use the surplus. Ask the installer what cap applies at your ICP, and read the export guide: https://homesolarinstallation.co.nz/blog/solar-export-limits-nz/
Inverter standards matter because the inverter has to disconnect or reduce output when the network requires it. A cheap inverter that is not on the accepted list can stall an application that was otherwise ordinary. Ask which inverter is being lodged, not only which panel brand is in the brochure.
Three clocks, not one
Keep the clocks separate so a delay has a name.
| Step | Who | What done looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Distributed generation application | Installer lodges, lines company decides | Written approval, with any export limit stated |
| Electrical inspection and certificate | Licensed worker and inspector | Electrical Safety Certificate in your file |
| Retailer and meter | Retailer, sometimes a meter technician | Export shows on the bill and a solar plan is active |
What you should not do while you wait
Do not assume the system may export because the crew has left. Some installers leave the system off, or limited to covering house load, until approval is in. Follow that instruction. Exporting early can get the system disconnected and can sour the approval you are waiting on.
Do not switch retailers in the middle of commissioning unless the installer and the new retailer both know the application is in flight. A retailer change can tangle the meter setup. If you do want a better buy-back plan, time it with the people who are lodging the paperwork. Published rates are on Powerswitch: https://www.powerswitch.org.nz/solar-rates
Do not pay the final contract sum while the approval and the certificate are both missing, if those were part of the scope you bought. A finished roof and an unfinished connection are different products. The installer guide lists the document pack: https://homesolarinstallation.co.nz/blog/choose-solar-installer-nz/
How this changes the price and the size
Network fees, if any, should be either included or listed. An export cap can make a smaller array the better buy, because extra kilowatts you cannot use or export have a weak return. EECA's bands, roughly $8,500, $11,500 and $20,000 for about 3 kW, 5 kW and 10 kW before a battery, assume a standard install. They do not assume a constrained transformer.
Say so if you might add panels or a battery later. The application you lodge now should not paint you into an inverter that cannot be expanded without a second full application and a second inverter. The size guide is the place to match kilowatts to the bill: https://homesolarinstallation.co.nz/blog/solar-system-size-nz/
EECA's planning page is the public walk-through of example homes: https://www.eeca.govt.nz/for-homes/solar-for-homes/plan-your-solar-system/
After approval
File the approval with the certificate, the shutdown note and the warranties. When you sell, that pack is what a buyer can read. When generation looks wrong, that pack is what the installer and the lines company will ask for.
Watch the inverter figures against the bill for the first months. Export kilowatt-hours on the retailer bill should be in the same world as export on the inverter, allowing for reading dates. A large gap is a meter or a settings problem, and it is easier to fix while the job is still recent.
Buy-back is a retailer setting on top of a network approval. One does not create the other. Read how credits work here: https://homesolarinstallation.co.nz/blog/solar-buyback-rates-nz/
The same application, different streets
Distributed generation rules are network rules, applied house by house, in Algies Bay, Arkles Bay, Army Bay, Big Omaha, Coatesville, Dairy Flat, Dome Forest, Dome Valley, Glorit, Gulf Harbour, Hatfields Beach, Helensville, Huapai, Kaukapakapa, Kawau Island, Kumeu, Leigh, Matakana, Muriwai, Omaha, Orewa, Puhoi, Riverhead, Snells Beach, South Head, Waimauku, Warkworth, Wellsford, Bayswater, Belmont, Campbells Bay, Castor Bay, Devonport, Forrest Hill, Hauraki, Milford, Narrow Neck, Stanley Point, Sunnynook and Takapuna. A Takapuna or Belmont street and a Wellsford, Helensville or Kaukapakapa road can sit on different parts of the network, with different spare capacity. Kawau Island and other low-access sites add travel, and some remote supplies are a poor fit for a standard grid-tied assumption. Ask for the limit at the ICP. Do not copy a neighbour's approval.
Home Solar Installation NZ can introduce a local partner who lodges this paperwork as part of a quote. The form is free and there is no obligation. Ask them to state the expected network wait for your area in the timeline, not as a slogan.
Cost context for the hardware they are applying to connect is on EECA's site: https://www.eeca.govt.nz/for-homes/solar-for-homes/solar-costs-and-savings/