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"I firmly believe electricity is the next crop for farmers in New Zealand, and the more farmers that get involved in this, the better the returns for farmers are going to be ... My big dream is that farmers start powering New Zealand. That would be really cool." Seven Sharp ventured to Cromwell recently and Rachel Parkin put together a beautiful story about the all-electric Forest Lodge Orchard. The team has proven that it's possible to grow cherries without burning any diesel on the farm - 'not a single drop,' as manager Euan White says - and that farmers can play a role in the energy system by generating, using, storing and exporting their own electricity. At the moment, many homes, farms and businesses are reliant on expensive molecules sent to us from the other side of the world. Fossil fuels have taken us a long way, but there is a better and cheaper option: locally-produced electrons. That's good for businesses, and good for the country as a whole. Watch the show on TVNZ+ (skip to 4 mins).
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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