Alpine Energy solar export limits and connection approval explained

Are you on Alpine Energy’s network?

Alpine Energy says it supplies most of South Canterbury, including the Timaru, Mackenzie and Waimate districts. It names its main towns as Timaru, Waimate, Temuka, Geraldine, Pleasant Point, Fairlie, Tekapo and Twizel. North of the Rangitata River, in Ashburton District, the lines company is EA Networks, and its rules are different. Our Canterbury lines company table shows which network covers each district.

If the address is near a boundary, check the 15-character ICP number on your power bill and ask your retailer which lines company it belongs to. Do not carry a limit, fee or approval time from Orion or MainPower into a South Canterbury quote.

Keep the three roles apart. Alpine Energy approves the connection and sets the export limit. Your retailer arranges import/export metering and sets the price you are paid for exported power. Your installer designs the system and normally fills in the application.

Solar is still less common here than elsewhere in Canterbury. EMI figures for 31 August 2026 show 1,126 homes with solar on Alpine’s network, 4.1% of its residential connections, against 5.1% across Canterbury. But the number grew 22% in a year, and new systems averaged 6.7 kW in the year to August, according to our Canterbury solar statistics.

The 10 kW default

Alpine Energy’s generating electricity page says that from 1 May 2026 it raised the default export limit for residential solar from 5 kW to 10 kW, in line with national electricity rules, and that lower limits still apply where the local network is under pressure.

The national rule is the Electricity Authority’s 2026 change to the Electricity Industry Participation Code. For eligible small-scale connections under the streamlined Part 1A process, the rules provide for a 10 kW default static export limit, or flexible limits that allow at least 10 kW outside controlled periods. A lower static limit needs to be justified by a standardised network assessment. Those changes took effect on 11 May 2026, so Alpine moved ten days early.

Older Alpine material still in circulation, including its 2024 solar brochure, gives the maximum export as 5 kW per phase. The May 2026 pack also retains a 5 kW-per-phase sentence on page 5 despite stating a 10 kW default on page 3. Ask Alpine to confirm the limit and any phase conditions in your written approval.

An export limit is measured in kilowatts, which is power at one moment. It is not a daily allowance in kilowatt-hours. A 10 kW limit rarely bites on a home system: you would need more than 10 kW of spare output after the house has taken what it is using. A 5 kW limit can bite on a sunny day with a larger array. Our system sizing guide explains how panel size, inverter size and export fit together.

Moving an existing system from 5 kW to 10 kW

Alpine says customers already exporting at 5 kW can apply to increase to 10 kW at no cost. It also says every new or updated residential export connection needs an application, so the increase is not automatic. Lodge the application, wait for Alpine’s written approval, and only then have the installer change the inverter’s export setting.

Before you ask, check whether the change is worth having. If the array is 6 kW or smaller and the house uses some power during the day, the spare output will rarely reach 5 kW and a higher limit will change little. It matters more for a large array, a battery that exports in the evening, or a house that is empty during the day.

Do not change the setting yourself. Alpine lists unauthorised modifications that take a system above 10 kW among the reasons it may disconnect generation.

The 11 export-congested areas

Alpine publishes a page of export congestion areas. It identifies each one by the substation that supplies it and the roads it covers. We have set them out below as Alpine lists them.

Three patterns stand out. Seven of the 11 are hut settlements, the clusters of fishing and holiday huts along South Canterbury’s rivers and coast, mostly at the end of long rural lines. Two are bush and foothill areas, Peel Forest and Burns Bush. The Hadlow feeder takes in a stretch of rural land on the edge of Timaru. Geraldine is the only town entry, and it is a single block of Talbot Street.

Alpine’s 2024 solar brochure said it was not aware of export congestion for small-scale generation at any specific location, while warning that congestion was highly likely as more generation connected. It now names 11, and its page says the list can change as new applications arrive or the network is reconfigured.

If your address is on the list

Congestion limits what you can send into the network, not what the panels can make. It changes what is worth buying:

• Size for what you use, not for what you could sell. A forecast that counts exports the connection cannot carry will overstate the savings. Ask for a second forecast at the limit Alpine says it would approve.
• Move load into the day. Hot water is the usual first step. Our guide to timers, diverters and batteries for hot water compares the options.
• Price a battery on its own merits. Each stored kilowatt-hour delivered to the house can avoid buying a kilowatt-hour at your import rate. Allow for storage losses and the battery’s cost when using our battery or no battery guide. Only 7% of Alpine’s solar homes had a battery in August 2026, the lowest share of the four Canterbury networks.
• Think hard about a hut or crib. A place that sits empty for much of the year uses little of what it makes, so its savings depend almost entirely on exporting. That is exactly what a congested connection restricts.

Rural owners should also read our guide to solar on lifestyle blocks, which covers long cable runs, sheds and pumps.

From application to switching on

Alpine says anyone who wants to feed power from solar, wind, hydro or other small-scale generation into its network must apply first. The steps below come from its generating electricity pages and its 2024 solar brochure.

1. Get a design. The installer works out the system size, expected output and electrical details.
2. Talk to your retailer. Your retailer arranges import/export metering. Ask what the meter change costs and which plan will pay for your exports.
3. Apply to Alpine. There are separate routes for systems up to 10 kW and over 10 kW, and the application is made online. Alpine’s brochure says the installer often completes it.
4. Wait for approval. Alpine checks network capacity and any effect on the network, may suggest changes, then approves. Your installer and retailer both need a copy of the approval.
5. Install, inspect and liven. The electrician issues the certificate of compliance and a livening form, and an inspector completes the record of inspection. Alpine’s brochure says the livening form and record of inspection must be returned to Alpine within 5 days of the system being connected.

Alpine’s May 2026 information pack distinguishes two application paths for systems up to 10 kW: a response within 10 working days for a complete Part 1A application, or within 30 working days under Part 1. Its web pages summarise the timing differently, so ask your installer which route applies and when the application was accepted as complete. Wait for written approval before booking installation.

Above 10 kW, Alpine has a separate information pack and a longer final application form. It asks for the generator and inverter make and model, the type of mains failure protection, the maximum output and the proposed point of connection, such as a pole number. Expect a larger lifestyle-block or farm-shed system to take longer.

Fees and inverter rules

Alpine’s May 2026 information pack lists application fees of $100 excluding GST for an eligible Part 1A connection up to 10 kW, or $200 excluding GST under Part 1. It also lists a $60 inspection fee and an $80 Part 1A deficiency fee, both excluding GST, where applicable. Find the current pack through Alpine’s information and application page. Ask the installer which charges apply and who pays them. Alpine separately says an existing 5 kW export limit can be increased to 10 kW at no cost; confirm any installer charge for changing settings.

For equipment, Alpine’s standards page points to the Clean Energy Council’s list of approved inverters, which it says lines companies use to check applications. It also publishes a Distributed Generation Connection and Operation Standard for installers. Ask for the exact inverter model on the quote so it can be checked against the approved list.

Alpine’s brochure notes that urban properties are usually single-phase and rural ones are usually two- or three-phase. Ask the installer which you have, because it affects how a larger system is split across the supply.

A grid-connected inverter switches off when the network goes down, so solar alone will not keep the lights on in an outage. Our battery storage guide explains what backup needs.

When Alpine can turn your export down

An approved limit is not a promise that you can always export that much. Alpine lists the situations in which it may curtail or disconnect generation:

• planned maintenance on the network;
• emergencies;
• unauthorised changes that take a system’s capacity above 10 kW;
• so much generation on one part of the network that it causes operational problems.

The last one is why the congestion list exists, and why it may grow. Alpine also suggests that anyone planning generation checks their own wiring for voltage drop between the connection point and the generator. That is worth raising if the panels will go on a shed or a building some distance from the meter.

What your exports earn

The buy-back rate for exported power is set by your retailer, not Alpine. Our buy-back rate guide compares the plans.

Alpine also offers a peak export credit. Its injection pricing guide lists 3 cents per kWh for eligible exports from 6:30–9:30 am and 4:30–9:00 pm, seven days a week, all year, from 1 April 2026. Eligibility includes a connection of up to 45 kVA on an eligible tariff, maximum deliverable generation of up to 45 kW and export metering. Ask your retailer whether you qualify and how the credit appears alongside your buy-back payment. Orion’s winter peak export credit has different hours and terms; do not use those in an Alpine forecast.

Six things to get in writing

Use these alongside our guide to common solar quote mistakes when comparing installers.

• The connection: the ICP, confirmation that it is on Alpine Energy’s network, and whether the supply is single-phase, two-phase or three-phase.
• The congestion check: whether the address is in one of Alpine’s named congested areas, and if so the limit Alpine says it would approve.
• The export assumption: the limit the savings forecast uses, and a second forecast at a lower limit if approval is still pending.
• The equipment: panel capacity and the exact inverter model and rating.
• The fees: Alpine’s application fee from its current pack and the retailer’s meter charge, and who pays each.
• The paperwork: who lodges the application, who tells the retailer, and who returns the livening form and inspection record to Alpine within 5 days of connection.