The case for energy loans: read our latest explainer
As we've said before, it's not just us arguing for more rooftop solar. A number of academics are onboard and Kevin Trenberth, Distinguished Scholar at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the US and honorary academic at the Faculty of Science, University of Auckland, is one of them. As he says: "Germany has about 20 percent less sunshine than New Zealand, but 3.7 million solar systems generating 61 gigawatts of power (12 percent of their total energy supply). In New Zealand, there is an estimated 200 MW from rooftop solar, and all solar (not just rooftop) provides under 1 percent of New Zealand’s power. A major reason for the very low uptake of solar in New Zealand is the absence of incentives and effectively, penalties against investing in it." We're doing our best to create incentives and remove penalties by pushing for symmetrical export tariffs, where a customer is paid the same amount for any electricity that is exported from the premises at peak times as they are charged for any power they consume at peak times. If we level the playing field, customers can become part of the energy system.
Read moreDownload the document hereEveryone 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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