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There’s been an understandable focus on the price of electricity recently, with fears we may be in for a repeat of the wholesale debacle of 2024 as our hydro lake levels remain low. The Energy Competition Taskforce made another announcement about levelling the playing field for independent retailers and removing preferential pricing for the gentailers’ retail arms. Just like the previous announcement that talked about moves to level the playing field for customers with solar and batteries, this is another positive step towards a fairer system, but it’s not guaranteed to bring electricity prices down, as Mike Casey told Andrew Dickens on Newstalk ZB.
Many of the innovations in the energy sector come from independent retailers, so it's good that there will be fairer competition. But the future increases in our bills are likely to come from poles and wires, not generation. What is more likely to bring prices down is widespread adoption of solar and batteries, and a recent paper in Nature suggested that solar and storage would be the cheapest energy source in most of the world by 2030, with most of the switch happening by 2027. With our world-class hydro scheme, we already have a lot of the storage built, so New Zealand is in a good position in comparison to many other countries and we’re looking a gift horse in the mouth if we don’t follow the money.
Lightforce Solar is one of the bigger players in the national solar scene and it's doing a great job of normalising the technology and ramping up the neighbourhood effect with its Barrett-heavy ad campaign. Now it's seen the light and opened up a hub in the rapidly growing Central Otago region. Solar enquiries have been off the charts in recent months as energy security becomes more of a dinner-table discussion and more homes electrify their transport. As consultant Sam Risbrook told Mike Casey at Electrify Queenstown, there's a lot of demand in the residential sector down south and farms are the next major focus, something close to Casey's heart (Lightforce Solar has recently inked a partnership with Federated Farmers).
Read moreDownloadNew South Wales gets the memo about the importance of finance and announces scheme offering zero interest loans to households to upgrade to electric stuff; plug-in solar gets the tick of approval to go on sale in the UK soon and the New York Times says it could 'change America'; EVolocity takes electrification to the streets to gets the kids inspired (and eventually employed); a tour of the amazing recycling business Redwood Materials; Think Solar and BYD give it away now; and a skit that cuts close to the bone for many solar dads.
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