The 'Electric Election': energy policies, side by side
Does Indonesia have a returns policy? Despite plenty of talk over the years about the Huntly Power Station being switched off, yesterday the big gentailers reached an agreement to chip in for a big stack of coal so they can ensure the lights stay on if we experience another energy crunch like we did last year. As Mike Casey told Ryan Bridge on Newstalk ZB, bringing in more coal is not ideal, but something had to be done in the short term to deal with our rapidly declining gas reserves. And using more solar and building more renewables and using our stockpile of water in our hydro lakes means we might not need to burn it.
As the energy minister, Simon Watts needs to avoid rolling black outs in winter at all costs because that would be an economic disaster. But as climate change minister he should be doing everything he can to ensure we don't need to burn it.
We are going to need a lot more electricity to power all our electric machines in the future and we need that electricity to be cheap if we hope to unlock the economic benefits in our homes, farms and businesses. But we are not going to get either of those things if we have to rely on an imported, expensive fuel to generate it.
Instead, we need to use the big stockpile of water in our hydro lakes more effectively and we can do that by adding much more rooftop solar (which is the cheapest electricity for households); speeding up the fairly slow pace of large-scale wind and solar projects; rolling out more batteries (large and small) to store energy for use at peak times; and continuing to invest in geothermal.
The largest single power plant in Australia today is a 3.3GW plant that runs on coal. But when you add up all the rooftop solar in Australia, it's around ten times that size.
We're seeing plenty of other markets rapidly shift away from fossil fuels for electricity generation and, as Bill McKibben wrote in Rolling Stone recently, "California, the world’s fourth-largest economy, is using 40 percent less natural gas to generate electricity than it did two years ago, simply because it’s built out so many solar farms and battery arrays." This is not a utopian dream. Increasingly, this is economic reality.
'Twas the night before Chris-mas, and all through the house, all the voters were stirring, the pundits showing their nous … the election will soon be over, but the energy crisis won't, so we'll be there to pester whoever is in power about the need to run more of the economy on New Zealand-made energy; can Ethiopia's aggressive push for EVs work and how does New Zealand compare in terms of adoption rates?; a two-way charging trial from Genesis shows promise in Auckland, but there's still a way to go before it's mainstream; small electric vehicles are often overlooked when it comes to electrifying transport, but it's hard to miss this weird French one; a solar-powered cafe (and some electric coffee); and we endorse the political vandalism of Keith of All Trades.
Read moreDownloadPoliticians are being urged to adopt stronger electric vehicle incentives ahead of the election. Climate and energy advocacy group Rewiring Aotearoa is arguing that EVs are one of the most effective long-term solutions for rising transport and energy costs. They're promoting an EV Salary Boost proposal, which would allow workers to access EVs through pre-tax salary arrangements – similarly to already existing schemes in the UK and Australia. Policy and Government Relations Spokesperson Ngaio Neumegen told Kerre Woodham that even with the rising cost of power, it's still cheaper to run an EV than a car running on imported fuel.
A proposal that would let New Zealanders lease an electric car using their before-tax pay has not won a commitment from either National or Labour, with the 7 November election days away. Under the EV Salary Boost, put forward by Rewiring Aotearoa and Drive Electric, an employee would lease a new or used EV for three to five years. The payments would come out of their pay before tax, lowering the cost of running the car. The idea is based on Australia’s novated leasing system, though the groups say they are not proposing a direct copy.
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