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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.
High fuel prices are hurting different demographics in different ways. We've seen stories of low-income households having to choose between food and transport; businesses reliant on diesel that are on the brink as margins shrink; and now, those in rural districts spending "as much as five times more of their household budgets on fuel than city dwellers".
Paul Spain heads to Central Otago to meet Mike Casey at Electric Cherries, exploring what happens when tech thinking meets hands‑on farming. Mike shares his journey from scaling tech startups in Sydney to creating New Zealand’s first fully electric cherry orchard, powered by onsite solar to reduce energy costs and build long‑term resilience. The conversation dives into the real economics of electrification, smart infrastructure choices, and how practical technology decisions can unlock productivity, sustainability, and future growth for New Zealand businesses.
Read moreDownloadThe OECD has just released its 2026 report on New Zealand's economy. And when it comes to energy, it basically gave us a 'must try harder' grade. On the proposed LNG terminal - which, remarkably, is still not dead yet despite all evidence suggesting it should be - the OECD said, as we have said, that it would not serve its intended function of lowering prices.
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