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 hereWarren 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”.
Read moreDownload