Auckland Pools Sustainable Asset Strategy

PSH can help Auckland Council build a practical sustainability roadmap for pool and leisure assets: lower energy cost, reduced gas dependence, smarter water use, and resilient community infrastructure.

The new PSH Buddy app can provide the visibility layer for the full programme, giving council teams, site operators, iwi partners, and project stakeholders a transparent view of plans, approvals, delivery status, savings, and measured outcomes.

Why we know PV panels and battery to create energy to run a pool heat pump does not work. 

Roof already has energy sitting on the roof FREE energy. Simply take that energy and heat the pool. Assisted by a heat pump in season.

Estimate cost: To heat pool 450 litres 

• Heat pumps $198k
• PV panels and batteries $1.5mil
• Pool Solar system $28,950 only 120sqm 

Once the heat pumps both turn on and consume ALL generated kwh. Takes days to heat pool and it very inefficient and energy hungy. 

PSH pool solar turns on and pool can go from 22 degrees in 1 day to 30 degrees, no pool cover. 

Strategy Areas

• Filtration upgrades: variable-speed pumps, efficient filtration media, backwash optimisation, metering, and modern controls.
• Pool solar heating: roof-mounted pool solar heating where hydraulics and roof space support it, combined with covers and heat-retention measures.
• Heat pumps replacing gas: staged commercial heat pump conversion plans to reduce gas use and emissions.
• PV and batteries: commercial solar PV and battery systems for daytime pool loads, peak management, and resilience.
• Roof water collection: rainwater capture for non-potable uses such as irrigation, washdown, toilets, and suitable plant-room uses.
• Iwi resilience: PV, battery, water, and backup-power planning for iwi and community resilience outcomes.
• PSH Buddy app: full visibility and transparency across each site, action, quote, approval, installation milestone, energy result, water result, and resilience outcome.

e.g. Mahurangi School 

Portfolio Method

PSH would start with a site-by-site audit of energy, water, roofs, switchboards, pool plant, gas boilers, and filtration systems. Each site can then be ranked by operating cost, emissions impact, asset age, resilience value, and ease of delivery.

Alignment With Auckland Climate Action

Auckland Council's climate action programme already identifies decarbonising council assets, replacing gas boilers at community pools and leisure centres with electric heat pumps, installing solar panels on pools and community facilities, and supporting iwi, marae, and community-led climate action. PSH can help turn that direction into a visible, ranked delivery programme across pool and leisure sites.

Discussion Estimate

Using a working electricity rate of $0.22/kWh, a Mahurangi-style small pool using 8,000 kWh per month would cost about $1,760 per month in electricity. Larger indoor aquatic facilities may sit in the 500-1,500 MWh per year range, or roughly $110k-$330k per year at the same rate, before gas costs are included.

For gas displacement, a pool with 1,000 MWh per year of heat demand could require about 250 MWh per year of electricity if served by a heat pump operating at COP 4. That is about $55k per year at $0.22/kWh, to be compared against current gas cost and emissions once site data is supplied.

Mahurangi consumes:

• $150k per year to run electricity
• 550k kWh 
• Heat pump consumes $80k or over half electricity

The key take away here is billions of dollars are spent converting electricity back into heat, when the heat is sitting on the roof from the beginning. 

Next Step

The recommended first step is a fast discovery phase across representative pool and leisure sites, followed by a ranked implementation plan, 3-5 pilot projects, and a PSH Buddy reporting dashboard for transparent stakeholder access.

Iwi energy resilience | OpenSolar plan for Auckland facilities | PSH Buddy transparency app | Auckland Leisure locations | Auckland Climate Action