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On Newstalk ZB, Energy Resources Aotearoa chief executive John Carnegie spoke with Mike Hosking about the need for coal and gas to provide enough electricity in what looks like another dry year. But there is another option.
GAs and coal will be required in the short term, but we would argue that "it's the answer" mostly because the extra renewable generation hasn't been built fast enough; it's a bit like saying McDonald's is the answer for dinner after forgetting to go to the shops.
Rewiring Aotearoa has a different (and cheaper) answer to the supply problem.
Our hydro system is basically a massive battery and more rooftop and ground mount solar on our homes, farms and businesses could keep water in the hydro lakes for when we need it most.
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It's a particularly compelling option in a dry year where there is an average 11% increase in solar production. When it's not raining, it's shining and, as the graphic shows, that 11% bump creates a significant amount of additional hydro storage - and it could be rolled out a lot more quickly than a new gas field.
A briefing to the new Energy Minister talks about households and businesses finding energy unaffordable. We always come at these issues from a customer perspective and generating your own electricity for your own electric machines is not only good for the energy system, it's the cheapest option for customers.
Like highways, peak times are the main concern, but the grid can handle it if we adopt new technology and change our behaviour.
For example, Forest Lodge Orchard produces around 80% of the electricity it needs to run its 21 electric machines via rooftop and ground mount solar. It stores a lot of that electricity in batteries, so while its electricity consumption has increased dramatically, it doesn’t use any more electricity at peak times.
It can actually be a net positive by exporting during congestion times and powering roughly 25 neighbouring homes.
At a household level, home batteries (and soon enough batteries that come with free wheels AKA electric vehicles with bidirectional charging that can power your house or feed back to the grid) make those calculations even better.
Heating water, which makes up around 30% of a home’s energy use (if you don’t count your car), can also be timed for the solar window.
The long-term answer to our electricity issues is not sitting at the bottom of the ocean or on a ship sent from Indonesia. At least part of the answer is beaming down from the sky.
Financial commentator Frances Cook uses her own story to show that that an investment in solar and an EV significantly outperforms the stock market and fellow number cruncher Nadine Higgins says that if you do it right, EVs are cheaper to run and own; EV sales have climbed to their highest level since 2022 and are closing in on 2023's numbers and Go Rentals has just invested $2.3 million in some new Tesla Model Y Premiums; the gap between energy costs of diesel vans and utes and electric vans and utes is absolutely massive; solar is also going off right now, with one installer in Otago 448% above their sales target in March; Lightforce has gone back to the Barretts with a new TV ad; Wellington mayor Andrew Little explains its electrification strategy and Hutt City Council shares data showing how its fleet has gone from dirty Toyotas to cleaner EVs; Shenzen in China has electrified its public transport and taxis and that's come with big benefits - and some challenges; and a very simple illustration of the LNG terminal.
Read moreDownloadAs Minister of energy, climate and local government, Simon Watts had a great opportunity to push the country towards cheaper, cleaner and more reliable New Zealand-made energy. And that’s why we laid down a challenge and gave him the ‘MegaWatts’ moniker last year. Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey says he did some good things, like enabling more solar on farms, removing tax on solar exports, fixing onerous solar consenting requirements, putting pressure on the lines companies to pull up their socks, and getting the ball rolling on the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme. "But the LNG import terminal appears to have been a defining issue."
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