In mid 2024 a small group of homeowners from Castle Hill Village with an interest in energy sustainability started talking about solar projects at the Village as a way to reduce power prices and provide resilience for our community during emergencies.

A survey to guage interest for a community energy project was undertaken in October 2024, with enhancing resilience of the village the key objective for respondents. The results are here.

The concept of a community energy project in Castle Hill was accepted as part of the first Community Energy Activator, run in collaboration with Orion Energy, Ara Ake and the Community Energy Network from September – November 2024. It was the only Selwyn District based project of the 9 projects accepted. Read more about the pilot programme here and our project mentor, Bill Heaps, here. A summary of the pilot Activator programme by Ara Ake can be viewed here and the inspiring final presentations can be viewed here.

Learn more and see new updates here.