Te Whakahiko i ngā Marae | the Electric Marae report
"New Zealand-made energy is the future!" That's Pic Picot from Pic's Peanut Butter and he's a man after our own heart.
Picot was an early adopter of solar and put 486 solar panels on the factory roof in 2022. That made it the world’s first solar-powered peanut roastery.
On a good day, its 'Roasting Matilda' roasting machine can roast 3.3 million peanuts using pure solar energy and there's plenty of that in Nelson. That equates to about one jar every 10 seconds.
While it's now an economic argument to lower energy costs with solar, it's also a story that customers love and it means they're more likely to buy peanut butter from them, he says.
It's also a story that other businesses notice and one of his goals is that it starts to be seen as normal.
"If they're not doing it, the question becomes why the hell are you not doing it?"
Rewiring Aotearoa's Matt Newman: "For marae, however, there aren't a huge amount of places where they could turn to unless they're engaging professional services around electrification. We know that that hasn't often been in the funding piece either. You know, funders will happily fund upgrades for marae, but they won't fund the due diligence that's necessary to support marae in making really good decisions for the long-term future."
Read moreDownloadRewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey told Andrew Dickens plug-in solar is a simple process, which many countries including the US, UK, and places across Europe have made the most of. Labour's policy is similar but says changes to enable plug-in solar would be within 12 months of a government it leads taking office.
A shocking increase in the power bill for a marae that converted to solar energy has raised concerns about installers and regulation. The monthly power bill for Taranaki's Owae Marae has rocked to as much as $2000 a month, up from about $400. That's despite installing a solar system on its wharekai to save money. Matt Newman from Rewiring Aotearoa spoke to Lisa Owen about this issue and our new Electric Marae report.
