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Queenstown-Lakes landlords are being sought for a New Zealand-first pilot programme. The Queenstown Electrification Accelerator (QEA) is about to kick in to a solar trial, aimed at ensuring residential and commercial renters can benefit from solar power, despite not owning the roof.
QEA business electrification lead Lowri Swygart says, till now, there hasn’t been a straightforward way to ensure the energy transition is inclusive of residential rental properties, for example.
‘‘As part of the Queenstown Electrification Accelerator . . . [we] realised this is a topic that came up time and time again, so we thought we’d put together a trial with a couple of different options of how we can help people through the process, then work out what are the barriers, if we’ve got solutions in place, and how can we make it as easy as possible for renters to have access to low-cost solar energy.’’
Swygart says about 60 people have already registered their interest in participating in the trial— the majority of those residential landlords.
When Mike Casey bought his house near Cromwell, it came with gas bottles on the side of the home for water and an expensive diesel system for the underfloor heating. He replaced both of them with a Steibel Eltron system and it's been saving him money ever since. As technical manager Bhawesh Singh told him at the Electrify Queenstown conference, there has been a big influx in enquiries from homes looking to get off the molecules and onto electrons.
Read moreDownloadConfidence that cutting regulations to make solar power more accessible - won't jeopardise people's safety. A new Regulation Ministry reports laid out a potential blueprint to legalise plug-in solar and reduce the time and cost of panel installation. Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey shares his thoughts with Andrew Dickens.
The burgeoning demand for solar was also a chance to address a mismatch between the numbers of training opportunities available and young people searching for work, Casey said. "The mums of New Zealand are telling me that there's not enough apprenticeships for their kids and the solar installers of New Zealand are telling me there's not enough trained people."
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