The 'Electric Election': energy policies, side by side
We've been banging on about the no-brainer that is solar on schools for a while now. It's the perfect use case given the majority of energy is used during the day and now $30 million will be spent to get 500 schools running on the sun.
The Government announced the funding as part of the Budget and shared more details this morning at an event in Christchurch. EECA will put in $20 million and another $10 million is coming from the Ministry of Education (but funding for solar and batteries on marae will stop at the end of this year).
EECA modelling using a 30kW system (which is the standard size for a school, but seems pretty small given the amount of roof space available) show they could save around $8,000 per year on their bills.
Education Minister Erica Stanford made the right noises at the stand up about the savings from operational budgets being put back into other areas in the schools to help kids, something we've advocated for strongly.
Selected schools will also get batteries for resilience reasons and Energy Minister Simeon Brown talked up the role that schools could play as emergency hubs.
Batteries can also feed back into the grid in the evening peak and charge at night rates for the morning peak, while schools cane export over the summer months. Exporting energy could generate an estimated $6.7m in revenue over 10 years.
The first installs will be done over the summer school holidays and will be focused on schools facing the biggest energy bill increases, including some schools replacing their diesel boilers.
Future Budgets will need to allocate more money to keep the installs rolling, so we hope this just stage one and that our approximately 2,500 schools will all be set up to save - and that the 16% of the population at a school every day gets to learn more about energy through this tangible demonstration.
Read more about the scheme here ⚡https://loom.ly/59xuzNc
'Twas the night before Chris-mas, and all through the house, all the voters were stirring, the pundits showing their nous … the election will soon be over, but the energy crisis won't, so we'll be there to pester whoever is in power about the need to run more of the economy on New Zealand-made energy; can Ethiopia's aggressive push for EVs work and how does New Zealand compare in terms of adoption rates?; a two-way charging trial from Genesis shows promise in Auckland, but there's still a way to go before it's mainstream; small electric vehicles are often overlooked when it comes to electrifying transport, but it's hard to miss this weird French one; a solar-powered cafe (and some electric coffee); and we endorse the political vandalism of Keith of All Trades.
Read moreDownloadPoliticians are being urged to adopt stronger electric vehicle incentives ahead of the election. Climate and energy advocacy group Rewiring Aotearoa is arguing that EVs are one of the most effective long-term solutions for rising transport and energy costs. They're promoting an EV Salary Boost proposal, which would allow workers to access EVs through pre-tax salary arrangements – similarly to already existing schemes in the UK and Australia. Policy and Government Relations Spokesperson Ngaio Neumegen told Kerre Woodham that even with the rising cost of power, it's still cheaper to run an EV than a car running on imported fuel.
A proposal that would let New Zealanders lease an electric car using their before-tax pay has not won a commitment from either National or Labour, with the 7 November election days away. Under the EV Salary Boost, put forward by Rewiring Aotearoa and Drive Electric, an employee would lease a new or used EV for three to five years. The payments would come out of their pay before tax, lowering the cost of running the car. The idea is based on Australia’s novated leasing system, though the groups say they are not proposing a direct copy.
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