The case for energy loans: read our latest explainer
Yet more stunning stats on Australia's household battery boom after the subsidy was announced; the countries doing best on wind and solar on a per capita basis; a big report on China's energy transition looks like bad news for fossil fuels; the lower North Island is set to get the Southern Hemisphere's first battery electric trains, Samoa is set to get some electric solar catamarans, and Auckland is set to get zero-emissions deliveries from Ikea; the Shameless Plug podcast brings kitchen diplomacy to the table; and a song in the key of science from Elle Cordova.
Wizards of Aus
We’ve written a fair bit about the Australian battery boom but the amazing stats just keep coming and the number of discounted batteries installed through the Government's incentive scheme recently passed the 50,000 mark, with demand around five times higher than last year. And instead of pocketing the savings from the subsidy, many homes are deciding to increase the size of their batteries.
At this stage, the average is around 17 kWh instead of the 10-12 kWh that had been forecast. It’s expected the average size of home battery systems will quickly rise to 25 kWh, which is where the average is already sitting for the Northern Territory.
As Energy Minister Chris Bowen says, that's a lot of toast. And a lot of other things, too.
Globally, batteries are also going off, and the number of installations increased by 54% in the first half of the year.
The EA doesn’t collect data on battery sizes in New Zealand and only measures solar and we think that needs to change because batteries will very quickly become one of the biggest power stations in the country. It would be great to see a similar incentive scheme offered here at next year’s election because batteries are not just good for the homes that have them, they are also good for the energy system as a whole. Our poles and wires are generally built to handle the peaks. But every battery removes a home from peak and, if they’re big enough, they could remove their neighbour from peak, too.
Medal table
Our World in Data's Hannah Ritchie is a fountain of knowledge and pumps out amazing charts on climate and energy. She decided to look at which countries are scaling solar and wind the fastest, but she didn’t just look at the overall amount, she looked at per capita stats.
As she wrote: “It would be unreasonable to expect that a country with 10 million people is going to be building and scaling technologies at the same rate as a country with over a billion people. It would be unfair to say that smaller countries are not “'doing their share' because they never appear on a 'total generation' leaderboard."
The below chart shows the change in solar and wind generation per capita between 2021 and 2024.
Ritchie also looked at the share of solar and wind as a total of electricity production and Lithuania came out on top.
“Lithuania topping the list was definitely a surprise to me. But solar and wind’s share of electricity generation increased from 36% to almost 66% in just three years. One thing to bear in mind is that Lithuania still relies a lot on electricity imports - they make up around 40% of its total generation.”
And for the special data lover in your life, Ritchie’s new book Clearing the Air is availale now.
Swapping sources
China may not be as impressive on the per capita front, but as one of the biggest economies in the world, it’s providing a very important demonstration of what’s possible and how quickly things are changing.
Ember has just released a big report on China’s energy transition, and fossil fuel uses is plateauing and set to decline as renewables take over.
It’s a long read, but here are the main themes:
Ride the lightning
Things are on track in the lower north island, because 18 new battery electric trains have been ordered and they're the first for the Southern Hemisphere.
The trains are able to switch to batteries on tracks that don’t have overhead power, technology that has been proven in countries like Japan and Germany.
As Transport Minister Chris Bishop said:
“French multinational rail transport systems manufacturer, Alstom, has been selected to deliver 18 state-of-the-art battery-electric trains, the first to operate in New Zealand. The new train fleet will significantly improve travel times and passenger experience on the Wairarapa and Manawatū lines. These new trains will replace the ageing diesel locomotive-hauled fleet which dates back to the 1970s and has frustrated commuters for years. They will deliver faster, more frequent and more reliable services for passengers travelling between Wellington, the Wairarapa and the Manawatū.
“This upgrade will enable the doubling of peak services on both lines and additional off-peak services. We expect up to 15-minute travel time savings for commuters between Wellington and Masterton, and increased speeds on the Wairarapa line.”
Good things take time, however, so commuters, weekenders and train lovers will have to wait until 2030 before they get to take a trip.
Floating assets
Good news for Samoa, too, because innovative New Zealand boat builders McKay have just completed the first trial of a solar powered and battery propelled catamaran.
The Herald reported that McKay was selected to design and manufacture five of the boats as part of an initiative called the Climate Action Pathways for Island Transport.
The catamarans would seat 12 passengers and be used for passenger and cargo transfers. The first vessel, a 10m catamaran called E-Alia, successfully completed its sea trials last month in Whangārei. The sea trials were carried out over two weeks and simulated a full day of operation that includes five round trips between Manono and Upolu, covering journeys up to about 13km. McKay reported the vessel had the ability to run continuously for seven hours while maintaining speeds of about 11km/h.
With Vessev getting its first international order, EV Maritime continuing to push the boundaries and lots of other companies in the New Zealand marine industry going electric, it seems there’s plenty of momentum on the water.
Home comforts
Back on the road, Ikea is set to launch its first New Zealand store soon (let’s hope they start selling balcony solar here eventually as well), and it has committed to zero-emissions deliveries in Auckland’s metro area, which it says is a first for a home-furnishing retailer in New Zealand.
It will work with Mainfreight and NZ Post to and there are plans to extend it across a wider network.
To support the fleet, Ikea has installed fast-charging infrastructure at its Sylvia Park store and Māngere warehouse, supplied, installed and maintained by Jump Charging.
Mainfreight’s Carl George says: “Zero emission deliveries for Ikea will be managed from Mainfreight’s new, Green Star 5 rated Mainfreight 2Home facility in Ōtāhuhu, with solar and DC truck charging.”
People power
Dr Saul Griffith and Fiona Whitelaw’s new podcast The Shameless Plug is a great addition to the electrification landscape and talks to different people about their individual experience.
The most recent guest was Dr Kim Loo, a Sydney GP and climate activist, and she talked about what she calls “kitchen diplomacy”, or "running induction wok cooking classes for sceptical home cooks".
This is especially important with ethnic communities that are reluctant to change cooking methods for traditional dishes. Kim shows firsthand how electrification can be not just healthier and cleaner, but delicious. Kim even persuaded her 84-year-old mum to get rid of her gas cooktop. If you’ve ever wondered how to bring people along on the electrification journey - especially those who are hesitant - this episode will give you plenty of inspiration (and maybe even some cooking tips).
A song for the scientists
We love a good electric musical number here at Rewiring. Mike Casey enjoys singing this line at full volume as he harvests his cherries.
And this one from Elle Cordova about treasuring our scientists is a goodie, too.
In the last Electric Avenue of 2025, we look at the two biggest trends in the world of energy; the Government goes electric for its fancy fleet upgrade; Nick Offerman offers his services to a US campaign extolling the virtues of EVs; Australia shows what's possible in new homes when you add solar, batteries and smart tech; a start-up selling portable solar and battery systems that wants it to be as easy and common as wi-fi; and The Lines Company looks to put some solar on the roof of the Ōtorohanga Kiwi House.
Read moreDownloadWhen it comes to electric farming, "the numbers are becoming undeniable," says Nicholson Poultry's Jeff Collings. With 60kW of solar, a Nissan Leaf as a 'farm quad', electric mowers, an electric ute that can run a water blaster, and even a chicken manure scraper made out of a wrecked Tesla that, as Rewiring's Matt Newman says, looks a bit like something out of Mad Max, "almost everything is electric". There aren't many others in New Zealand who have gone this far down the electric road. And, with his electric Stark Varg, the fastest off-road motorbike in the world, he's obviously having plenty of fun on that road, too.
Read moreDownloadRNZ's Kate Newton reports on the "madness" of thousands of new piped gas connections being installed into houses every year, despite dwindling supplies and higher lifetime costs.
Casey said it was positive that the numbers showed people starting to leave the gas network of their own accord, but not all households were in a position to make that choice.
"If we don't plan for a decommissioning of the gas network, then it's going to be a chaotic transition, where vulnerable New Zealanders really suffer."
As the research of Rewiring and others has shown, gas is expensive, it's getting more expensive, it's terrible for your health when burned inside and there are substitutes available right now that, on average, do the same job for less money over the long run for households, would save the country billions on health costs and lost productivity, and don't pump out unnecessary emissions.
Around 300,000 homes and businesses have connections to the gas network (it’s estimated another 300,000 use more expensive bottled gas, mostly in the South Island). The number of active connections has started to decline recently and the country’s largest gas network, Vector, is forecasting no new residential or commercial connections after 2029.
Upfront capital costs are the main barrier for many homes, which is why we're working hard on a low-interest, long-term loan scheme that can be used to pay for electric upgrades, including hot water heat pumps. This would mean paying for a new thing with a loan would be cheaper than paying to run the old thing.
Read more about the scheme here.
Disconnection costs are also a major barrier. We have seen examples where households permanently disconnecting from the network have been charged between $1,000 and $2,000 to have a meter permanently removed (i.e. digging up the pipes to the road), even though it should only cost customers $200 to have the connection capped at the house.
RNZ even reported a case where a business customer was quoted $7,500 but took the case to Utilities Disputes, where complaints about disconnection costs have been rising.
The Australian Energy Regulator and the state of Victoria have now capped the disconnection fees to a few hundred dollars to stop this kind of behaviour and protect households.