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Lots of community centres run on human energy. But South Alive in Invercargill also runs on the sun and that's saving them heaps.
South Alive started back in 2012 and is almost like a 'community headquarters' for locals to use in whatever way they need, whether it's a meeting room, a sense of connection, or a flat white at the newly opened cafe.
As Claire McDonagh tells Mike Casey, being able to provide a community space like this comes at a cost and power made up a huge percentage of its overheads. But with the help of a community grant from the Tiwai Aluminium Smelter, a 60kW system was installed on its sizeable roof by NES.
McDonagh says it's been about a year since the panels were put up. They're now in credit after the summer months and the panels produced plenty of energy in autumn and spring last year.
The building is a Civil Defence hub and they opened up the facilities to anyone who needed help after the big wind event in October last year knocked out a lot of power.
She says batteries are the next logical step as they will be able to keep the building going after a natural disaster.
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.
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