The 'Electric Election': energy policies, side by side
It's pretty rare for someone to be invited back to the E Tipu Agri Summit two years in a row, but Mike Casey has plenty to talk about. Rewiring Aotearoa's Electric Farms paper proved there are similar benefits for the rural sector if we can turn farms into power plants and, as he says - and as he has shown on his own cherry orchard - New Zealand’s farmers could reduce their operational costs by going electric and generating a lot of their own electricity through mid-scale solar and battery systems. And they can also make money by feeding electricity back into the grid at times of high demand. “Whether in the home or on the farm, electrification is a real win-win. It’s not just the right environmental decision anymore, it’s the right economic decision. It’s a no-brainer. We just have to figure out how to make it easy.”
The installation of a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charger at the Arrowtown Community Centre has made it one of the most resilient emergency hubs in the country. The bidirectional Starcharge unit, which was fully commissioned last week, can not only charge an electric vehicle (EV) but also draw power from the batteries of compatible EVS to provide backup power for the building in the event of an emergency.
Read moreDownloadThere is growing demand from voters for long-term solutions to energy and transport costs and this year we’ve seen some rare political unity around solar in New Zealand, but there is a gaping hole when it comes to EV policy, writes Rewiring Aotearoa’s Josh Ellison.
Read moreDownloadWe always like to celebrate a lift in EV sales at Rewiring, but we’re not celebrating too hard, because new Zealand is lagging behind most other markets when it comes to adoption rates. While sales are up by around 170% on the same time last year, just 10% of new cars sold were electric in October, down slightly from previous months (at a regional level, Nelson took the prize for highest share with 25%, followed by Wellington and Tasman).
Read moreDownload
