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Nelson Mayor Nick Smith writes about the work to install solar panels on five Council buildings. "We are NZ’s sunshine capital with about 2600 hours per year. Solar panels help the shift to renewable energies and reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change ... The benefits of this solar project are not just environmental. It will reduce Council’s electricity bills. It will also improve our community resilience in a civil emergency. We are installing them on buildings that can be used as Civil Defence Centres and adding battery storage systems to provide backup power for when the electricity supply is down."
Read moreDownload the document hereWhen 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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