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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.
Political Power has gone local! Dr Nick Smith, mayor of Nelson and ex-National Party minister, is an early adopter when it comes to electric machines but, through his efforts with the council and his close involvement with the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme, he's also embracing one of Rewiring's core mantras: once you've electrified your own life, electrify someone else's life, too.
Read moreDownloadWhether it's the growing number of electric buses, new electric trains for the lower North Island and City Rail Link, or new electric ferries, we love seeing more electric transport options in our big cities. It's also good to see some of our smaller cities like Palmerston North, Timaru and Nelson going electric and, as is almost always the case, the drivers reckon it's better on electrons. At the Electrify Nelson expo, we spoke with one driver Lee about the city's electric buses. And he definitely wouldn't go back to diesel.
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