Solar power producer urges investors to put their money into greener tech

Investors are being urged to invest in sustainable energy projects, despite some showing a reluctance in greener tech, such as solar panel technology.

Lightyears Solar, an independent power producer that sells the power it produces via its solar farms into the network, which then trickles through to a mixture of commercial and residential consumers, has just closed its latest seed funding round for planned developments.

Co-founder Matt Shanks said the industry had developed in leaps and bounds since the company launched in 2019, but some potential investors did not understand the opportunities solar could offer.

“The technology’s still in the early stages in New Zealand, not globally – solar is quite well understood and fairly mature globally – but it’s early stages in New Zealand.

“A few investors, we’ve had to take them on a bit of a journey to really understand the economics of solar in New Zealand and a few of the technical things.”

Shanks said some investors believed New Zealand was not a sunny country and solar would not be a wise investment here, so the company often educated investors about its potential.

He said Lightyears Solar’s large-scale solar farm in Waiuku, Auckland, was set to be completed in August, with work on two other large-scale projects to begin later this year.

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