Question 1: Will the proposed topic provide information on an issue that affects New Zealand and is it important for our country’s future?

‍Overall, Rewiring Aotearoa supports the proposed topic and believes it will support greater insights on a fundamental issue that affects the people and places of Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa NZ). Building resilience to hazards is critical and urgent for shaping our country’s future in an increasingly complex and uncertain climate. And Aotearoa NZ’s unique natural environment presents many opportunities to build resilience across our infrastructure and systems.

In particular, we think the areas of energy security and resilience, critical infrastructure failing and commodity/energy price shock, which are identified as key risks in the National Risk Register, are especially important for Aotearoa NZ’s resilience to future challenges. We also believe that the framing of ‘everyone plays a part’ is helpful.

This is aligned with the thinking that we have been leading on farm and household electrification as key leveragepoints to electrify our economy and create a fairer, more distributed energy system in Aotearoa NZ.

It also provides an opportunity to explore roles and responsibilities within the system, which is a critical component of any adaptation conversation. Farms as resilience-enhancing renewable power plantsInstalling solar will increase energy resilience for rural communities, and presents anopportunity to reimagine farms as power plants.

As explored in Rewiring Aotearoa’s May 2024 Electric Farms report, creating and storing more electricity on Aotearoa NZ’s farms is in the best economic and environmental interests of the rural and energy sectors, and the country as a whole. Electrification can also contribute to regional resilience, especially in thecontext of extreme weather events and their impacts on the energy system. For example, farms that self-generate electricity are less exposed to grid blackouts, disruptions to fossil fuel supply chains, and price volatility in global oil markets. Furthermore, if transmission lines are disrupted, farmers can export electricity to the grid, serving as back-up to local communities to keep the lights on. Electric farms can continue production inspite of disruptions, avoiding the lost income which compounds the economic effects of climate-related shocks.

Farmers are part of the solution - with this approach, farmers could help address our energy security problem. If each of the approximately 50,000 farms in Aotearoa NZ installed mid-scale solar systems they could generate an additional 28-33,000GWh of electricity each year. If they also installed 300kWh of batteries - and even if only half of these batteries were fully charged - they could provide around two hours of 3,750MW peak support or nearly 50% of the country's current peak demand.

This battery storage would significantly reduce the need for fossil fuel electricity generation during dry years. Because farms are generating solar during the day during winter and storing it in batteries it means we can keep more water in our hydro dams and drastically reduce the consequences - and high prices -associated with dry years. A recent survey of 1,000 farmers found 70% are already keen to install solar.

During Cyclone Gabrielle, several stories emerged from Hawke’s Bay of households withsolar panels and battery storage that were able to maintain electricity and stay resilient to theimpacts of the storm. Many of these homes also opened their doors to neighbours, providing support and helping to strengthen community resilience in the aftermath of the disaster. These examples demonstrate how solar and battery systems can play a crucial role in ensuring energy security during extreme weather events.

Improving the settings to incentivise farmers to maximise the size of their installations, and include batteries, would provide a significant benefit by building capacity in the grid. For example, tweaking policy settings by mandating symmetrical peak export tariffs, and supporting aggregated Individual Connection Points (ICPs) in our energy system. An enabling policy environment would also reduce anticipated increases in household, business and farm energy bills, creating greater financial resilience to weather the impacts associated with natural disasters.

The Government has committed to doubling renewable electricity production to meet the growing demand in the coming years. Households and farmers are in an ideal position to contribute significantly to this effort, offering the potential for low-cost renewable energy generation. Additionally, they can play a key role in supporting the rollout of new infrastructure, such as the Government’s policy to install 10,000 fast chargers for EVs.

This will mean that farms, orchards and small businesses can save money on energy bills, provide greater energy resilience to rural communities, and reduce emissions from on-farm activities.

Electrification can be seen as a win-win. But further work is needed to unlock this potential - and this is where this Briefing can support such efforts.

Question 2: Thinking about the proposed topic, what issues should we explore in this Briefing?

‍We believe this Briefing should explore the role of electrification in national and community energy security and resilience. Firstly, note that this is not just an issue of emissions reduction, but also of infrastructure adaptation to changing risks - so understanding how to protect and adapt key energy infrastructure from natural hazards will also be key.

Secondly, developing a clearer understanding of how energy insecurity currently impacts different communities across Aotearoa NZ can also highlight innovative opportunities for progressive rollout of solar and electrification policy focus areas. For example, investment into community solar (as an energy resilience measure) can provide support during crises and help reduce pressure on emergency services in the aftermath of a severe weather event. Thinking about installing solar in existing community hubs like marae and kurakaupapa is an opportunity to build community energy resilience and support a decentralised, empowered disaster response.

Thirdly, it would be helpful to understand the systemic constraints that inhibit uptake of small-scale renewable energy generation and electrification of households and farms in Aotearoa NZ. For example, our work on upstream conditions relating to electrification uptake identified a green skills shortage associated with residential solar installation; a knowledge gap and lack of clear information around household electrification; and the critical role of finance in enabling uptake of solar technology to build household (and farm) level energyresilience.

Drawing a thread between the green labour market, energy security in communities (especially post-disaster), and adaptation of energy infrastructure in the context of natural hazards is much needed work in Aotearoa NZ. As part of this, exploring market incentives, regulatory enablers and policy direction for recognising the benefits of electrification is nascent thinking that this LTIB is well placed to contribute to.