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Whether you're monitoring gates in the back of beyond or powering your milking shed, solar and batteries can help farmers do the business these days and, as Morgan Brodie from Lusty & Blundell says, the products it offers go from one end of the spectrum to the other.
The company has been around for over 50 years and is a local distributor for Victron. Its background is in the marine and leisure industry, so off-grid systems are a specialty.
That certainly comes into play now on farms - especially if a grid connection is too expensive - and it can also power equipment like pumps in remote areas.
Solar and batteries can also help deal farmers with grid outages and can also bring down the cost of diesel generators in emergencies with its hybrid systems.
Electric vehicles are increasingly pulling into New Zealand workshops - and mechanics need the right qualifications to work on them safely. High-voltage battery systems carry risks for untrained technicians, and as EVs become a larger share of the national fleet, workshops without qualified staff risk being left behind. Some vehicle manufacturers are also beginning to require demonstrated technician competency as a condition of warranty-related work - a trend that is expected to grow. Here's where the training is on offer.
Read moreDownloadSolar and storage on farms has been going off like a frog in a sock recently. And Federated Farmers has made it a big part of its election manifesto. While Wayne Langford recently missed out on a fourth term as president, he's a Bright Spark in our books for all the work he's done to get this issue on the political radar and help speed up adoption.
Read moreDownload"To emphasise both the risk and the opportunity for New Zealand’s political economy, the price of Brent crude hit US$100 a barrel again on Friday, which is likely to push petrol prices back towards $3.50/litre. But New Zealand’s uptake of EVs, home solar, home batteries and grid-scale solar and batteries is lagging far behind most other countries, who have incentives and national strategies to electrify fast."
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