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The idea of sharing excess energy with your community has long been a dream of solar and battery enthusiasts and that idea is starting to blossom. Microgrids have been proven to work in remote Australian regions; some marae in New Zealand are helping to reduce bills for people in their communities; Kāinga Ora has successfully tested the concept of solar sharing in social housing; and Bright Spark Tama Toki is attempting to bring the idea to life on his home island of Aotea / Great Barrier.
Aotea has no power grid, but what it does have is a strong sense of community, a willingness to share resources and a need for self-sufficiency, so Toki has developed a small peer-to-peer network of homes with solar and batteries to test the concept. The cheapest electricity you can generate is on your own roof, and the second cheapest should be from your neighbour's roof. And when you add batteries into the equation, it makes that energy more useable when it's most needed.
Toki, who is also the founder of successful skincare brand Aotea, is showing how modern technology can improve energy security and reduce energy poverty. And just as New Zealand could be a demonstration project for the world to follow, Aotea could be a demonstration project for other off-grid islands to follow.
When Mike Casey bought his house near Cromwell, it came with gas bottles on the side of the home for water and an expensive diesel system for the underfloor heating. He replaced both of them with a Steibel Eltron system and it's been saving him money ever since. As technical manager Bhawesh Singh told him at the Electrify Queenstown conference, there has been a big influx in enquiries from homes looking to get off the molecules and onto electrons.
Read moreDownloadConfidence that cutting regulations to make solar power more accessible - won't jeopardise people's safety. A new Regulation Ministry reports laid out a potential blueprint to legalise plug-in solar and reduce the time and cost of panel installation. Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey shares his thoughts with Andrew Dickens.
The burgeoning demand for solar was also a chance to address a mismatch between the numbers of training opportunities available and young people searching for work, Casey said. "The mums of New Zealand are telling me that there's not enough apprenticeships for their kids and the solar installers of New Zealand are telling me there's not enough trained people."
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