The case for energy loans: read our latest explainer
One's also helluva cleaner, with the average solar install potentially stopping around one metric tonne of coal from being burned at Huntly, as Mike Casey outlines in his opinion piece about the current electricity situation on Newsroom NZ. Solar is by no means a silver bullet for our energy issues, but more of it on our homes, farms and businesses means we can potentially have our cake (keep electricity prices low for New Zealanders and reduce coal use) and eat it too (give customers with solar and batteries the ability to benefit if prices stay high). There will be benefits for everyone in New Zealand if more people own their power, rather than continuing to rent it. But we need to start thinking about customers as part of the infrastructure, something that the market has not been set up to handle.
Read moreDownload the document hereIn the last Electric Avenue of 2025, we look at the two biggest trends in the world of energy; the Government goes electric for its fancy fleet upgrade; Nick Offerman offers his services to a US campaign extolling the virtues of EVs; Australia shows what's possible in new homes when you add solar, batteries and smart tech; a start-up selling portable solar and battery systems that wants it to be as easy and common as wi-fi; and The Lines Company looks to put some solar on the roof of the Ōtorohanga Kiwi House.
Read moreDownloadWhen it comes to electric farming, "the numbers are becoming undeniable," says Nicholson Poultry's Jeff Collings. With 60kW of solar, a Nissan Leaf as a 'farm quad', electric mowers, an electric ute that can run a water blaster, and even a chicken manure scraper made out of a wrecked Tesla that, as Rewiring's Matt Newman says, looks a bit like something out of Mad Max, "almost everything is electric". There aren't many others in New Zealand who have gone this far down the electric road. And, with his electric Stark Varg, the fastest off-road motorbike in the world, he's obviously having plenty of fun on that road, too.
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