'This car can...' Check out our new campaign
RNZ's Susan Edmunds talks about the "thousands of New Zealanders have borrowed from their banks to put solar power systems on their houses". The Ratepayer Assistance Scheme, which will offer low-interest, long-term loans for upgrades is very different to bank loans and will offer every property access to savings, with flexible repayments.
Chief executive of Rewiring Aotearoa Mike Casey said he was "super excited" about what was happening in New Zealand's energy transition.
"A lot of the time we talk about moving from fossil fuels over to electricity, but I think there's a bigger energy transition that's going on here, which is also moving away from traditional energy landlords and towards customers of New Zealand taking a lot of energy sovereignty into their own hands.
"Being able to generate and store energy, it's a whole new dynamic to the New Zealand's energy system that we haven't seen before.
"And while the price of all forms of energy, whether it grid electricity or diesel or petrol or gas, continues to go up at, I think, quite an uncomfortable rate for many New Zealanders, the price of solar and batteries seems to keep coming down."
New South Wales gets the memo about the importance of finance and announces scheme offering zero interest loans to households to upgrade to electric stuff; plug-in solar gets the tick of approval to go on sale in the UK soon and the New York Times says it could 'change America'; EVolocity takes electrification to the streets to gets the kids inspired (and eventually employed); a tour of the amazing recycling business Redwood Materials; Think Solar and BYD give it away now; and a skit that cuts close to the bone for many solar dads.
Read moreDownloadAdvances in technology and falling costs mean customer-owned solar and batteries can play a critical role in New Zealand’s energy infrastructure - improving affordability, resilience and sustainability. Multiple trading relationships (MTR) and peer-to-peer trading would enable this potential by increasing competition, customer choice, and innovation in the electricity market, unlocking greater consumer benefits from customer solar and batteries.
Read moreDownload
