A new pilot programme is underway in an effort to achieve more reliable power supplies over winter.
The programme will test whether residential rooftop solar systems and battery storage could provide electricity that would normally come from conventional electricity generators.
Erin York can see the Huntly Power Station from her kitchen window, however her main power source is much closer.
"We sell back to the grid with the excess solar power that we make here," York said.
She's one of 11,000 homeowners involved in the new power pilot.
Virtual power plant technology is used to send solar power stored in residential batteries back to the grid so it can be called on during peak demand.
"We're hoping to provide an extra 30 megawatts of energy into the system this winter," Solar Zero executive chairman Andrew Booth said.
Real-time pricing, which has been introduced for the first time this winter to manage supply and demand, is key.
"It allows homeowners for the first time to buy and sell energy at the best possible price, which allows them over time to drive down the amount they are paying for energy and start to contribute to a new grid for good," Booth said.
Historically, power prices could be up to three days old - and could end up being inaccurate.
"As we move forward into a low carbon power system we want to be having demand response in the market to replace expensive fossil fuels and manage the variables of things like wind and solar," operations policy manager at the Electricity Authority Te Mana Hiko Chris Otton said.
As subzero temperatures sweep the country, power demand is surging to near-record levels.
Six of the top 10 demand peaks this year have been in just the last two weeks, since July 27.
"We feel like we're doing something for the environment as well, and helping other people," York said.
The pilot has been described as a world-first, for an initiative which is putting the world first.
