The 'Electric Election': energy policies, side by side
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 hereThe installation of a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charger at the Arrowtown Community Centre has made it one of the most resilient emergency hubs in the country. The bidirectional Starcharge unit, which was fully commissioned last week, can not only charge an electric vehicle (EV) but also draw power from the batteries of compatible EVS to provide backup power for the building in the event of an emergency.
Read moreDownloadThere is growing demand from voters for long-term solutions to energy and transport costs and this year we’ve seen some rare political unity around solar in New Zealand, but there is a gaping hole when it comes to EV policy, writes Rewiring Aotearoa’s Josh Ellison.
Read moreDownloadWe always like to celebrate a lift in EV sales at Rewiring, but we’re not celebrating too hard, because new Zealand is lagging behind most other markets when it comes to adoption rates. While sales are up by around 170% on the same time last year, just 10% of new cars sold were electric in October, down slightly from previous months (at a regional level, Nelson took the prize for highest share with 25%, followed by Wellington and Tasman).
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