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St Heliers Presbyterian Church and Community Centre has seen the light! Jody Bews-Hair, one of the directors of the charitable company operating Community Centre facilities and project co-initiator, says installing 68 solar panels and a battery was driven by three key motivations: building community resilience, environmental sustainability, and managing rising energy costs.
The system is estimated to save over $500 per month; carbon emissions are expected to be reduced by almost five tonnes; and the church's new battery system means it can operate as a Community Emergency Hub during power outages.
Over 100 congregation members came together to launch the installation – many wearing yellow in recognition of the solar milestone – alongside community leaders, Ōrākei Local Board representatives, Rewiring Aotearoa, Eco Church New Zealand, and Lightforce Solar representatives. Rev Dr. Jordan Redding led the ceremony and there was also a cake cutting featuring a church-shaped cake complete with chocolate solar panels.
"We are exceptionally grateful to our parishioners who generously donated close to $60,000 to make this vision a reality," says Bews-Hair. "Combined with the Ōrākei Local Board's $8,000 grant, this community support shows what's possible when we work together. We hope this inspires other churches and community centres to explore solar solutions. The research by Rewiring Aotearoa shows incredible potential for household power savings from solar across New Zealand. If we can lead by example, perhaps more of our community will consider solar for their own homes and businesses."
It's time to show some interest in low-interest, long-term energy loans; looking enviously across the seas at Australia's energy push; an electric atmosphere beckons as the Special Olympics heads to the all-electric Parakiore indoors sports and swimming centre in Christchurch; EV Maritime's Michael Eaglen and Evnex's Ed Harvey share their views; Volkswagen follows the honey in its electric van; and climate comedian Oli Frost generously creates an ad campaign for French bank Société Générale.
Read moreDownloadYou may have heard there's an 'electric election' coming up next year. We've met with a huge range of politicians from right across the spectrum and the ones who pick up what Rewiring is putting down are often those who have already invested in solar, batteries, EVs, heatpumps and induction cooktops and have experienced the benefits first hand. That's why we're kicking off a new series called Political Power, where we talk to some of our decision makers about the decisions they've made in their own lives and how they plan to reduce energy bills for others, reduce emissions and improve our resilience and energy security.
Read moreDownloadElectrify everything. Electrify everyone. Electrify New Zealand. That's Rewiring Aotearoa's vision and our CEO Mike Casey gave a condensed version of what we've done and what we're doing at our Electric Christmas party recently. As he said to a large crowd at Ecotricity, which kindly hosted the event and provided the excellent electric cake, 2024 was the year of the thinking, 2025 was the year of the doing, and 2026 will be the year of mass adoption.
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