EV Salary Boost: it's a pay rise you can drive!
The New Zealand Herald's Chris Keall (paywalled) has gone deep on the SolarZero collapse and, while there are still questions being asked about the public investment, Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey says it was a business model failure and, just as Kodak didn't define the camera industry, this shouldn't define a sector or dent confidence in the technology. Energy Minister Simeon Brown also talked about a number of positive changes that will make it cheaper and easier to install rooftop solar.
Rewiring Aotearoa has been advocating strongly for regulatory changes that would level the playing field for New Zealanders who have invested in solar and batteries and it was pleasing see the Minister respond with specific changes when asked by the Herald what he had planned.
“Reducing regulatory barriers and cutting through red tape to deliver affordable and secure electricity is a key part of our plan to rebuild the economy and double New Zealand’s supply of renewable electricity."
The Government is delivering a number of changes to support greater uptake of solar, Brown said, including:
Additionally, the energy competition task force led by the Electricity Authority and Commerce Commission is also investigating a further two actions to support the uptake of household solar panels and batteries, Brown said.
“Solar energy will play a key role in New Zealand’s future energy system and support the transition to a low emissions economy, and these changes together will help make it cheaper and easier to install solar including rooftop solar installations,” Brown said.
Along with taxes, education and health, energy is proving to be a big talking point in the run up to the election .. which is now 33 days away. All the political parties have released some energy policies .. and while they're quite varied in their approaches .. the main focus seems to be bringing down the cost of electricity for us consumers. Our first guest would like electric transport to also be part of the conversation .. he's calling for a 'great EV comeback' and has some ideas about how to make it happen. Mike Casey, Rewiring Aotearoa Chief Executive joins Jesse.
The electric election continues apace! National announced its 'Electrify NZ 2.0 plan' last week and Mike Casey joined Andrew Dickens on Newstalk ZB to talk about the potential for peer-to-peer trading of energy, the roll of solar in lowering power prices, data centres needing to bring their own generation, and the likelihood that all this talk will turn into action.
