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When many of the poles and wires went down in Southland after the recent storms, a number of homes, farms and businesses with solar and batteries were able to keep running. And TVNZ's Jared McCulloch spoke to the owners of Fairbank Farms about their experience.
While many farmers in the region were scrambling for generators, sharing with neighbours, or having to dump milk, co-owner Chris Stewart says they managed pretty well and got all their milk out the gate.
As fellow co-owner Michael Farmer says: "It took a bit of stress away and I probably didn't realise how stressed a lot of other people were during the time."
This is something we hear a lot and those who are set up for it often don't even notice when the grid power stops flowing.
With a sizeable payout coming to Fonterra farmers from the sale of its consumer brands soon, Stewart says it could be a good time to do what they did and invest in some 'free' resilience. The $200k system is expected to pay itself off in five to seven years.
Human nature suggests that many of us sort out our emergency kit right after an emergency and Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey thinks this storm and the ensuing chaos could be a big driver of uptake among farmers. Social proof also plays a role.
"Dairy farmers listen to dairy farmers," he says, so being able to cope during such a trying time will do a lot to convince others.
Federated Farmers wants to see more members setting themselves up to run off the grid and, as well as resilience, it's also about animal welfare as the cows need to be milked.
There will be more storms. There will be more earthquakes. There will be more grid outages. New Zealand farmers have always prided themselves on self-sufficiency and more and more of them are finding that's what solar and batteries can offer.
Watch the whole segment on One News (from 15.23) ⚡
When Mike Casey bought his house near Cromwell, it came with gas bottles on the side of the home for water and an expensive diesel system for the underfloor heating. He replaced both of them with a Steibel Eltron system and it's been saving him money ever since. As technical manager Bhawesh Singh told him at the Electrify Queenstown conference, there has been a big influx in enquiries from homes looking to get off the molecules and onto electrons.
Read moreDownloadConfidence that cutting regulations to make solar power more accessible - won't jeopardise people's safety. A new Regulation Ministry reports laid out a potential blueprint to legalise plug-in solar and reduce the time and cost of panel installation. Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey shares his thoughts with Andrew Dickens.
The burgeoning demand for solar was also a chance to address a mismatch between the numbers of training opportunities available and young people searching for work, Casey said. "The mums of New Zealand are telling me that there's not enough apprenticeships for their kids and the solar installers of New Zealand are telling me there's not enough trained people."
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