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One of Rewiring's key objectives for 2025 is to grow the number of community electrification groups. And Jay Salzke, who started as ecosystem lead late last year, has been travelling the country to help spark them up.
As he says: “Since coming on board, my focus has been on building the foundation for a thriving network of electric communities nationwide. This includes developing a Community Activation Strategy, creating readily available resources for communities to use and distribute as well as touring Australia’s community groups to bring learnings back to Aotearoa. Most importantly, I have been busy forming relationships with community leaders across the country, and through our conversations, shifted thinking toward developing rapid electrification pathways for their local community. We now have groups formed/forming in Wairarapa, Kāpiti, Paekākāriki, Dunedin, Waiheke, Wānaka, Grey Lynn, Castle Hill, Lower Hutt, Taranaki, Christchurch, Tairāwhiti, Queenstown, Northland, Marlborough, Tasman and Hawke’s Bay.”
The momentum so far is really exciting and just as we are trying to build a more decentralised energy system, we are also building a decentralised community movement where every region takes a slightly different approach based on the needs of the community.
"Whether it’s Kāpiti building capability in residents to understand their energy bills and plan their electric transition, Wairarapa’s successful two-day conference and expo, or Wānaka’s regular information stalls in the community, we’re seeing groups move faster than the ones that precede them."
With the backing of Rewiring Aotearoa, electric communities are putting wins on the board too: Electrify Grey Lynn has secured council funding, Waiheke has developed a comprehensive work plan and working groups (including a bulk buy plan!) and Queenstown has planned a three-day electrification event with international speakers for May.
As the year rolls on, we’ll see more pilot programmes and electric conversions thanks to our electric communities.
"We'll also continue to get in front of more regions to catalyse local movements, and invest in channels that help groups learn from and communicate with each other. Electric communities will be instrumental as advocates for the necessary policy and regulatory changes we’re working toward, too. Local action is crucial to Rewiring’s mission."
Everyone is rocking on down to Electric Avenue today (this one online, not that other small one in Hagley Park in Christchurch), so let's ride the lightning: profits and electricity prices keep going up, as panels keep going down; a new paper puts a number on how much more homes with solar sell for; we're bottling things up with big and small batteries and they are eating into gas in Australia and California; transport emissions drop across the Tasman as a result of Government EV incentives, while HEB Construction electrifies its fleet; electrons are coming from above in China; and Xpeng announces the arrival of a crazy looking electric van/aircraft carrier.
Read moreDownloadWarren G and Nate Dogg said it best when they said: 'Regulators, mount up!' - and this week, they have.In a rare joint open letter, three different regulators - EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority), the Commerce Commission and the Electricity Authority - have basically told the lines companies to pull their socks up and make the most of ‘non-network solutions’ (AKA stop building more expensive poles and wires and start looking at customers and new technology as part of the solution!).
Read moreDownload"The LNG announcement from earlier this month has set the stage: electricity, and the energy sector more broadly, is set to be a major election issue this year. Casey has compared electricity to telecommunications, an area where services have become much cheaper in the last decade with technology advancing. “There are supply challenges for the grid and natural gas, and increasing pressure to find sustainable alternatives as reliance on fossil fuels becomes less viable,” he wrote in a Newsroom piece earlier this month, heralding the “electric election”.
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