The Solar Energy Association of New Zealand (SEANZ) is calling for urgent investment in training for solar panel installers. The association warns that the current workforce cannot keep up with expected demand if political parties follow through on promised subsidies for rooftop solar.

SEANZ spokesperson Gareth Williams told RNZ the industry expects solar uptake to jump 250 percent over the next five years. That estimate is based on what happened in Australia, adjusted for the fact that New Zealand's subsidies would likely be smaller. SEANZ estimates between 1,500 and 1,800 solar installers currently work in New Zealand. About a quarter of them are qualified electricians. To meet demand, SEANZ calculates the country would need roughly 2,500 more installers — and that number does not even include sales, design, project management, and admin staff.

Training is already a bottleneck. Brad Lynch owns New Plymouth-based Solar One and told RNZ that every new staff member he hires is already a qualified electrician but still takes about six months to learn solar installation. Solar One has been running for seven years and grew from three or four staff to seven in the past year, and was hiring again at the time of the report. Lynch also said solar inquiries spiked 300 percent overnight when the Middle East conflict began, showing how quickly consumer demand can shift.

Williams pointed to Australia as a warning. About 15 years ago, when Australia's solar boom began, quality problems emerged because installers were not properly trained. Making sure installs are done properly would be critical if New Zealand scaled up fast, he said. Master Electricians chief executive Alexandra Vranyac-Wheeler told RNZ in a statement that the priority should be upskilling existing electricians rather than relying only on new apprenticeships.

The Ministry for Regulation has recommended making it easier to get solar installations approved, RNZ reported. Politically, solar is becoming a bigger issue. Before the 2023 election, several parties announced policies to boost rooftop solar. With the 2026 election approaching, both the National Party and the Labour Party have promised long-term, low-interest loans to help households install rooftop solar, as The Spinoff reported on 9 July 2026. National's Instagram account has posted that Labour announced a $3,000 subsidy as part of a major solar package. No national residential solar subsidy currently exists in New Zealand — these are election proposals, not active programmes, according to Lightforce Solar's "Solar Election 2026" page. Solar Scout reported it could not find a current 2026 rooftop solar policy on the Green Party, NZ First, or Te Pāti Māori websites as of 19 July.

The numbers make the challenge clear. If solar uptake rises as SEANZ expects, the current installer base would need to more than double. Even qualified electricians take six months to become competent solar installers, per Lynch, so any subsidy programme would need to account for that delay. The 2,500 figure also covers only the people who physically install panels — not the sales, design, and management roles that would add even more pressure.

The broader context is that Australia's experience is worth paying attention to. Their early solar boom led to quality and safety failures because installers were undertrained and working under tight subsidy deadlines. New Zealand has far fewer installers than Australia did, and the training pathway here relies on electricians who already have qualifications but still need months of solar-specific practice before they are fully productive.

There is also a complication in who exactly does the work. Only about a quarter of current installers are electricians. The rest are mechanical installers — people who handle the physical mounting of panels rather than the wiring. Master Electricians' recommendation to upskill existing electricians would not reach the majority of the workforce. Neither major party has yet said whether a separate training pathway for mechanical installers would be part of their plan.

RNZ's reporting drew on direct interviews with Lynch and Williams, and a statement from Master Electricians. No press release was attributed as the origin of the story.