New Zealand's cleanest and greenest power company

Currently, wind generates around 6% of the total electricity in New Zealand. It’s recognised that in most countries, around 30-40% of total generation can be provided by wind. In New Zealand, because we are blessed with hydro resources, we can likely achieve even higher rates of wind generation. On-site battery storage will mean that this figure could be even higher. Wind generation captures the energy of the wind as it passes through the wind turbine blades. Each individual wind farm operates around 90% of the time, day and night. When you consider that there are wind farms spread all across New Zealand, chances are there is always a wind farm operating at any one point in time. Each wind turbine can supply enough power for around 1,500 households or about 4,000 electric vehicles over a whole year. Wind farms are an ethical and clean source of energy – our wind resource is infinitely renewable, and farming wind doesn’t produce harmful gases. New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world uniquely suited to utilising wind power on a large scale. Winds consistently whips across our country, providing us with productive wind farms that significantly outperform international averages. New Zealand currently has 17 wind farms (and counting) scattered across the countryside, supplying around 6% of our annual electricity generation – enough to power 300,000 homes. New wind farms are currently being developed to increase this output in the coming years, and it's estimated we could easily generate more than 40% of the power we need with wind. The more wind farms we build, the lower our energy bills will get, and we’ll be able to preserve our lifestyles and environment for generations to come.

Here at Ecotricity, we’re excited about the possibilities for solar as a renewable energy source to help power New Zealand. That’s why we offer the country’s leading price plans for those who are already on-board with solar. If you’re interested in solar, it’s good to understand exactly how your panels work, and whether solar is a viable option to help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. If you have a solar system already installed, we’d like to have you on board as an Ecotricity customer. That way your electricity can truly be 100% Renewable.

When the wind is blowing or the sun is shining, we conserve water in our hydro dams for use later, alternately when wind or solar output drops then hydro generation can be ramped up. It is important that wind power is developed to support hydro generation as over time, there will be longer dry periods in various parts of New Zealand. Our first hydro dam in New Zealand was constructed in 1903 – over time many more have been built and they’ve served New Zealand well by supplying renewable and low emission generation. Hydro power is generated in a similar way to wind power, only instead of wind we use the energy of falling water. Water builds up a lot of pressure as it moves downhill. That’s why when you stand under a waterfall you can feel a huge amount of pressure against your body. A hydro plant forces falling water into a narrow pipe to increase the pressure, then uses that water to spin a turbine. The turbine powers a generator that produces power. Hydro can produce a huge amount of energy – often much more than can be effectively stored. Instead of trying to store more energy, producers of hydro build huge dams to control the flow of water. This way, they produce exactly the amount of power needed. This also means we can conserve water to power the hydro dams while we have a good supply of solar or wind power, and ramp up our hydro when wind/solar resources drop. New Zealand’s current hydro resources supply around 60% of our power needs, and is one of the cheapest and most efficient forms of generation.