Electrify Wairarapa, in partnership with local lines and network provider Powerco, recently organized a series of speakers, focusing primarily on opportunities and savings through electrification in the rural and farming sector, at the Waihinga Centre.
The fifty-plus attendees heard how Powerco were working with isolated coastal communities and others to promote greater energy resilience with quicker recovery from outages resulting from floods, storms, slips and cyclones. Farmlands Flex explained how, with the technical and financial expertise of Blackcurrant, solar – with or without a battery – was increasingly enabling farmers to make considerable savings in their business, and Hospitality NZ spoke about the savings to be made just by using energy more efficiently and reducing needless waste. (There were interesting stories as to how some chefs were making the change from gas to induction cookers making for better, healthier and safer working environments – but perhaps without some of the pizzaz!) That challenge in overcoming age-old traditions carried over with the last speaker from Joiy Wines where bottles are being replaced by cans with this ‘sacrilege’ justified by the considerable energy and cost savings in transporting 99% of their product to distant overseas markets. (And think how we’ve now so accepted wines in screw top rather than corked bottles!)
To wind up the evening a roundup of locals championed the savings and benefits, and business opportunities, electrification had brought for them – Russell Keys of McKenzie Electrical in promoting solar, A2W Heating and Hot Water in sharing the advantages of heat pumps over conventional gas in providing hot water, and Kaiwaiwai Dairies with its vision and commitment to lower energy costs for their dairying enterprise.
If you couldn’t make the evening Powerco have generously provided support for two further events this year around electrification to be run by Electrify Wairarapa. On October 22 in Carterton with a theme of community energy sharing and ethical energy retailers, and on November 27 in Masterton with a focus on farming and new build homes. Copies of the Martinborough talks and links to register for the next events can be found at www.electrifywairarapa.nz/news. Electrify Wairarapa is a community led, not for profit initiative with local volunteers who have personal experience of making the change to electric vehicles, installing solar panels and batteries, switching to hot water heat pump and other electric appliances in their own homes and farms. If you are thinking about making the switch or keen to share your own experience the team is always keen to connect.
