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The Otago Daily Times and The South Today covered the inaugural Electrify Queenstown conference at Millbrook Resort yesterday. Destination Queenstown chief executive Mat Woods said the event was to show "the benefits of electrification, and what businesses can electrify such as vehicles, heating and cooking methods" and there was a huge amount of interest from the business community. "It was important to build an understanding that when things need to be replaced, replacing them with electric alternatives are not only better for the planet, but can also be cheaper, and more reliable ... Realistically we expected 50 people to turn up, but we had to cap attendance for the morning’s panel at 150 people." Rewiring Aotearoa's Mike Casey was the keynote speaker, and his electric tractor even provided heating for the tradeshow in the marquee.
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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