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In Businessdesk, Patrick Smellie writes about Rewiring Aotearoa's manifesto and the strong endorsement of the Electricity Authority.
As he wrote:
The Electricity Authority (EA), which also has a green paper out for submissions on decentralised energy production by June 4, took the unusual step of effectively endorsing the Rewiring Aotearoa report.
The report advocates rooftop solar and other small-scale renewable energy initiatives to decentralise energy production.
“We agree with Rewiring Aotearoa that New Zealand’s centralised electricity system can be complemented by more localised energy resources,” the EA’s chief executive, Sarah Gillies, said in a statement.
“Power generated at a local level can enhance resilience to climate change impacts, improve affordability, progress decarbonisation and empower communities and local economies.”
Rewiring Aotearoa argued that NZ’s energy system is broken and that “our leaders need to start backing everyday NZers, the country and the future rather than continuing to protect vested interests and fiddling around the edges”.
“Electrification and a step change in customer participation through rooftop solar and batteries offer massive economic and environmental benefits, but major barriers - such as limited finance access, outdated regulations, and biased pricing structures - are holding the country back.”
Rewiring Aotearoa’s report said that while critics would query the cost of its 59-point manifesto, it said it was “the current system that’s costing us”.
“The policies laid out in our manifesto should not be seen as a cost; they are an opportunity to invest and save, an opportunity to create a more productive economy, and an opportunity to show the world what's possible.”
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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