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Rewiring Aotearoa’s research has shown that there is plenty of latent demand for solar and batteries, but there are a number of barriers standing in the way. Where the Government and regulators could make changes to help unlock that potential, we’ve told them and, to their credit, they have tried to address many of those issues. Last week, we were critical of the Government’s energy reforms, as were most other commentators. But this week we’re happy to be celebrating the letter that Energy Minister Simon Watts has sent to the heads of all 29 electricity distribution businesses.
In it, he said that “we want to see a much larger number of Kiwi homes adopt rooftop solar and batteries to reduce their own bills and support system resilience. Connection times and export limits are currently one barrier that reduces the attractiveness of these systems for households.”
The Minister is firing a warning shot at electricity distributors: speed up your approvals - or, better yet, make them automatic. Allow at least 10kW export limits unless you can prove genuine safety or technical concerns. This isn't a gentle suggestion, it's a clear message that rooftop solar and batteries are non-negotiable parts of our energy future, and EDBs need to get on board.
Down south, Aurora has led the way on this and already increased the export limit to 10kW, but we have heard from other customers around the country that their EDBs have decided not to.
The Government hasn’t gone as far as regulating this increase, which could be an option, but it is clear that the burden of proof is now on the EDBs to show why they are unable to heed the Minister’s clear wishes.
While exports are normally a cherry on top of the solar sundae, an increase to the export limit will speed up payback and could be a significant additional revenue stream for those with larger systems. It will also stop renewable energy from being wasted as it is currently when it could instead be used to benefit the country.
The letter also said that “the Government is firmly committed to electrifying the economy to achieve climate goals and enhance economic resilience”. Backing an LNG terminal that will lock us into years of expensive foreign fuel and create unnecessary emissions does not seem to gel with that goal, even if it is intended to solve our dry year risk.
There are other solutions, including a lot more solar on our homes, farms and businesses, and at grid-scale. The Government has made a number of changes to incentivise uptake, whether it’s increasing the voltage range, creating a solar SWAT team within EECA to help farmers, making it easier to get consents, or removing income tax from exports, and that’s positive, but they are relatively small.
Solar is the one thing that is guaranteed to reduce customers’ energy bills, so we would love to see as much financial support for solar and batteries as there has been for oil and gas recently.
If your EDB isn’t delivering, let us know. And if you think we need more support for solar and batteries, let the Minister know.
"To emphasise both the risk and the opportunity for New Zealand’s political economy, the price of Brent crude hit US$100 a barrel again on Friday, which is likely to push petrol prices back towards $3.50/litre. But New Zealand’s uptake of EVs, home solar, home batteries and grid-scale solar and batteries is lagging far behind most other countries, who have incentives and national strategies to electrify fast."
“We’ve only got one transmission line coming in through a gorge, and all our road access traverses the sides of steep mountains. ”If the line came down and road access was cut, the area’s diesel generators could run out of fuel well before the line was restored, particularly if widespread damage throughout the South Island made the emergency response slow.
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