This property sits down amongst mature trees and has a complicated roof with several levels and orientations.

A simple approach would have been to use only the most favourable roof area and disregard the rest.

Instead, we looked at the usable roof space across the property and designed the installation as one overall system.

The north-facing and flat-roof sections were installed first on a dedicated inverter. The planned south-facing array was completed later on a second inverter.

This also gave us something particularly useful: separate monitoring for the two parts of the installation.

South-facing solar is often ruled out straight away.

North-facing panels generally have an advantage in New Zealand, particularly through winter. But roof orientation is only one part of designing a solar system.

This property had a substantial amount of usable south-facing roof space.

The question wasn't whether the south-facing panels would produce as much electricity as the north-facing panels. We knew they wouldn't.

The question was whether that roof could still produce enough useful electricity to make it worthwhile.

After nine complete months of monitoring both systems side by side, we have real data to answer that.

From 1 January to 30 September 2026, the complete 18 kW system generated approximately:

That's more than 3,000 kWh of electricity generated from south-facing roof space that could easily have been disregarded.

The seasonal difference is clear.

The south-facing array produced 792 kWh in January, falling to 112 kWh in June, before climbing again through July, August and September.

This is why we wouldn't tell a homeowner that south-facing panels perform the same as north-facing panels. They don't.

But the data also shows why we don't automatically rule them out.

We also have the home's actual Genesis electricity bills from before and after the solar installation.

This gives us something more useful than a projected savings calculator. We can look at what the property actually imported from and exported to the grid.

These figures come from actual retailer meter readings and electricity bills.

This system currently operates without a battery.

The monitoring and retailer data show that the property exports substantial amounts of solar during the day while still importing electricity from the grid at other times.

For example, during the January to February 2026 billing period, the home exported 1,100 kWh while importing 506 kWh at other times.

That makes this property worth assessing for battery storage, but it doesn't automatically mean a battery is the right financial decision.

We would look at when the electricity is being imported, when surplus solar is available, the difference between import and export rates, suitable battery capacity and the installed cost before recommending one.

This is the same approach we take with customers. We don't add a battery simply because a house has solar.

The biggest lesson from this installation isn't that every homeowner should put panels on a south-facing roof.

It's that the whole property should be assessed before deciding where solar will and won't work.

This Queenwood home sits amongst mature trees and has a complicated roof with several orientations.

Yet from January through September 2026, the complete system generated approximately 10.8 MWh.

More than 3 MWh of that came from the south-facing roof.