Application Process – Solar products approved list

EECA’s approved solar products will have been assessed against our technical specification to check that they meet our voluntary requirements for efficiency and demand flexibility.  This will help consumers who are considering buying a solar system to have confidence that the technology is efficient, durable, and able to be part of a smart energy system. 

View the technical specification

Yes. Letting us know that you also supply a product included on our list means that we can notify you if a product is being de-registered, and check whether you are still supplying it.

Solar systems are made up of several parts, which can be set up to best suit the homeowner’s needs, such as a different number of panels, different sized inverters, or whether the system includes a battery. 

By approving each component separately, this will allow suppliers to sell multiple configurations of their products (if they meet the specifications).

There are several suppliers (including manufacturers and importers) of solar products in New Zealand who may sell products to one or more installers.  To save time and effort, one supplier can register all their products, regardless of who might install them.  

Alternatively, installers that manufacture or import product for their own use can register their own products.

EECA’s technical specification is specific to New Zealand but does share some similarities the Clean Energy Council (CEC) programme in Australia. If your products are already listed with the CEC this will help to fast-track your application.

Manufacturers sometimes produce multiple versions of the same product with relatively minor modifications to meet the consumer’s needs (for example, these may involve different colours, or fittings).  

If you supply multiple models with the same brand and the same performance characteristics (such as power output or battery capacity) these may be registered as a ‘family’ of products. 

This means that you can register the whole ‘family’ once, not for each individual model - this is entirely up to you, but it might save you time and effort.

While the focus of this programme is on residential and small-scale systems, the products may also be applicable to small-to-medium commercial and industrial systems.

EECA can only approve products which have been demonstrated to meet our specified performance criteria. Therefore, you must provide supporting evidence in the form of a test report for certain criteria. These requirements are detailed in the specification document and in the form itself. 

No, it’s free to apply.

The assessment period depends on the information that you provide. If you submit the completed form with all the necessary supporting evidence, the process for us to assess this will be more straightforward. The more products you include in your application, the longer an assessment will take.  

However, if we need to come back to you for any missing documentation or seek clarification on anything, this will pause your application and we will re-start your assessment once you have re-submitted your form along with any missing evidence.

All applications are dealt with in order of submission, and any re-submitted applications go back into the queue. 

We will make our best efforts to have all applications assessed as quickly as practically possible.

We advise you to submit your applications one at a time, so that they can be assessed individually by EECA. If you choose to combine multiple products into a single application, there is  a potential risk that if one product assessment has any issues it may hold up the rest of the products in the combined application form. 

If you are thinking of sourcing or supplying any new products in the future, you might want to check first if they meet the criteria, and then apply to have them assessed as soon as possible so they’re ready to hit the New Zealand market.

Applications are open from XXX April 2026 and there is currently no end date to the programme.

As technology and policy may change over time, EECA reserves the right to review, refine or close this programme at any point in the future.  

However, if we do plan to make any changes, we will contact all registered suppliers and key stakeholders with prior notice.

Products will usually remain on the approved list for 3 years from the date they are approved. Towards the end of this period EECA may contact you to confirm if you are still supplying these products and wish to extend your listing. 

If at any time you stop supplying any products, please let us know so that we can update our list of approved products.

No, the programme is entirely voluntary but offers benefits to suppliers by giving potential customers greater confidence in their products.