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Lowest prices are just the beginning this week as Bunnings gets into the solar and battery game in a big way in Australia with plans for a zero-dollar upfront deal; Port Nelson has electric lift off with its new crane and a new solar powered hybrid cargo ship is launched; Inductive Robotics wants to bring chargers to the cars, rather than the other way around; a new campaign suggests that South Australians are revolting and loving it; and Johnny Solar releases a beautiful version of The Kinks' Lola.
Lowest prices are just the beginning
It has never been cheaper to generate and store electricity - and it's getting cheaper. But lots of people can’t get past the high upfront costs of electric machines and solar and batteries - even though it will save them money in the long run.
Offering access to long-term, low-interest finance so more New Zealanders (including landlords) can go electric and benefit from cheap solar is likely to make the biggest difference to energy bills and we’re working hard on that in New Zealand. But there are plenty of other options popping up in the private sector and in Australia, one of the big ones is Bunnings, which is launching "a zero up-front installation cost offer to Australian households, along with plans to become a dominant player in the booming sector."
The move by Bunnings comes just weeks after the opening of the federal government’s home battery rebate scheme [which offers 30% off the upfront cost], and follows its own decision to target the home energy market, and begin selling EV home charging products in its stores. The home battery market is booming in Australia, thanks to the newly launched federal government rebate, and battery installations have already overtaken the number of rooftop solar installations in the race to retrofit.
An article in The Guardian says the surge in household battery installations in Australia is ‘off the charts’ and 'at the current rate, households could have 10,000MW installed in five years – half the nation’s total coal power capacity".
Let’s hope Bunnings (and other retailers) sees an opportunity to launch this in New Zealand, too.
And let's hope our Government recognises that solar and batteries are a very real substitute for coal and gas when it comes to electricity generation, especially considering New Zealand already has a big battery in the form of its hydro lakes that we can keep topped up with solar.
A big lift
Our Machine Count project sent us on a wild ride to find all the weird and wonderful machines in New Zealandf. The smaller ones are the easiest to electrify but there are a growing number of electric options at the big end of town and they don’t get much bigger than port cranes. So it’s great to see that “New Zealand’s first electric dual-drive mobile harbour crane has been commissioned at Port Nelson".
As Stuff reported:
The crane was bought as part of a $17 million project to electrify some port operations which also saw one of its existing diesel cranes retrofitted to run on electricity as well. “[It’s] a really significant milestone for us in terms of our decarbonisation journey, but in terms of leadership in the industry as well,” said Port Nelson chief executive Matt McDonald at the crane’s commissioning ceremony.
Cranes contribute around 22% of the port’s Scope 1 emissions. The new crane – an LHM600E crane, or Liebherr harbour mobile 600-tonne electric crane in full – can switch between electric and diesel modes but was expected to operate on electric power up to 85% of the time.
If we can get a few more solar powered cargo ships, like this hybrid number that was just launched in The Netherlands and is designed for use in inland canals, we'll beable to bring those shipping emissions down even further.
Delivered energy
EVs are often referred to as big batteries on wheels. But Inductive Robotics is all about small batteries on wheels and it's trying to bring chargers to the car, rather than the other way around.
The goal of the company is to “make EV charging broadly available by disrupting the capital-intensive, long-lead status quo of scaling EV charging by providing parking lot operators with a quickly deployable and flexible service”.
The autonomous charging robots operate with computer vision and are largely aimed at the commercial parking industry, which is a $13 billion industry in the US alone.
This blog details how it could change parking economics and the key components are:
It's certainly an interesting idea for those in the parking industry. And it could also be something that landlords (or tenants) with car parks but no access to charging points could benefit from.
It pays well to rebel.
We love a good pun. And we love homes that take the power into their own hands. In Australia, Amber has launched a tongue-in-cheek campaign celebrating all the revolting South Australians who are benefitting from solar, batteries and some smart tech inbetween.
“There’s a rebellion happening in homes across the country. Aussies are ditching power plans from traditional retailers. They're charging their batteries when energy is cheap. Selling it back when prices spike. And taking control of their energy, with smaller bills and faster payback. It’s no surprise people in SA are fighting back. Not with signs or slogans, but by installing solar panels, adding batteries, and using tech like Amber to take control of their energy and reduce their bills on their own terms.
Quite a few New Zealanders are revolting these days and there are a lot of strong signals to invest, but we’re a long way behind.
Sing when it's sunny
Solar fans, put this one on your playlist! Endless Energy's Johnny Solar, resplendent in what looks like a very high quality bright yellow suit, has come up with a beautiful version of the classic The Kinks song Lola and it's an absolute triumph.
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.