
Let's raise the roof! 🏠🌞 Customers with solar and batteries need to be seen as a critical part of our 21st Century energy system and academics from Auckland University of Technology agree, pointing out that the 14 biggest rooftops in Auckland would be equivalent to New Zealand’s largest solar farm. The rooftops of 167 schools and supermarkets would provide the same amount of energy, albeit much closer to the point of consumption and that's why we're arguing for a more decentralised system.
Read moreDownload the document hereNew Zealand has passed the "tipping point" where most people buying solar panels will save more money than they spend on them, researchers say, but more could be done to unlock households' ability to make use of solar power. Josh Ellison, research lead for Rewiring Aotearoa, said the country was one of the first where the electrification of homes and vehicles could deliver cost-of-living savings and reductions in emissions at the same time. He said the tipping point was probably passed about three years ago but has now been crossed for battery storage systems, too.
There can't be too many off-grid MPs in the world, but Celia Wade-Brown is one of them and she's the latest candidate in our ongoing series Political Power, where we get up close and personal with our elected representatives about their energy use.
Read moreDownload