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RNZ's Kathryn Ryan has talked to energy researchers who claim rising demand for electricity in summer (largely due to increasing air conditioning requirements and EVs) will have repercussions on lake levels come next winter. And while Transpower says the risks of an electricity supply shortage this year have eased, next winter's forecast is concerning. Irrigation is also a major user of electricity in summer in some regions. Solar is well-suited to both of these cases as the electricity is usually required during the day when the sun is out, so more solar at home and on our farms can provide a lot of what we need with less strain on the grid and at the lowest cost.
As we have mentioned previously, New Zealand's electricity is much less renewable - and much more expensive - when there’s not enough water in our hydro lakes and we have to burn coal or gas in winter at times of high demand, like we did this year.
Rooftop solar is the cheapest form of electricity availlable to New Zealand households, because the price of the panels has declined so rapidly and the energy is generated where it is used. The price has declined rapidly, while grid electricity has risen and is expected to keep doing so (the red line is what customers are expected to pay for more expensive upgrades to the poles and wires).
Sunshine hours are, on average, 5% higher in a dry year compared to the average and 10% higher in April/May/June. More rooftop solar could help provide the electricity the country needs through winter, and also ensure we go into winter with higher lake levels.
Financial commentator Frances Cook uses her own story to show that that an investment in solar and an EV significantly outperforms the stock market and fellow number cruncher Nadine Higgins says that if you do it right, EVs are cheaper to run and own; EV sales have climbed to their highest level since 2022 and are closing in on 2023's numbers and Go Rentals has just invested $2.3 million in some new Tesla Model Y Premiums; the gap between energy costs of diesel vans and utes and electric vans and utes is absolutely massive; solar is also going off right now, with one installer in Otago 448% above their sales target in March; Lightforce has gone back to the Barretts with a new TV ad; Wellington mayor Andrew Little explains its electrification strategy and Hutt City Council shares data showing how its fleet has gone from dirty Toyotas to cleaner EVs; Shenzen in China has electrified its public transport and taxis and that's come with big benefits - and some challenges; and a very simple illustration of the LNG terminal.
Read moreDownloadAs Minister of energy, climate and local government, Simon Watts had a great opportunity to push the country towards cheaper, cleaner and more reliable New Zealand-made energy. And that’s why we laid down a challenge and gave him the ‘MegaWatts’ moniker last year. Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey says he did some good things, like enabling more solar on farms, removing tax on solar exports, fixing onerous solar consenting requirements, putting pressure on the lines companies to pull up their socks, and getting the ball rolling on the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme. "But the LNG import terminal appears to have been a defining issue."
Read moreDownloadAfter ‘crunching the numbers’ and adding in new sources of ‘New Zealand-made energy’ to our equations, CEO Mike Casey has announced that Rewiring Aotearoa will be changing its name to Refuelling Aotearoa. There has been a huge amount of independently verified research showing electrification beats fossil fuels on economics, efficiency, emissions and energy security and that there is a huge opportunity for New Zealand to electrify, but the discovery of an infinite supply of snake oil in New Zealand has changed everything, he says.
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