About 150 Maori households will benefit from clean, affordable, and locally generated power as the government is supporting 16 small-scale solar projects through a $3 million fund, according to the Energy and Resources and Housing Minister, Megan Woods.
She said that the government is exploring practical ways of creating warmer, more energy-efficient homes. The third round of the government’s Maori Housing Renewable Energy Fund provides targeted support to households with unstable access to power, or who are experiencing energy hardship. Many more will benefit from the sharing of surplus power through community energy networks or microgrids.
One of the 16 projects will install solar panels on eight maraes along the eastern coast of Northland, creating a virtual network to support rural households under the Kaupapa of Te Poari o Ngatiwai. Another in the Bay of Plenty is installing a solar smart grid across 35 homes in a park that will share a community battery, Henare noted.
Seven of the projects are in Te Tai Tokerau/Northland, one is in Te Tai o Aorere/Tasman, and the others are spread around Te Ika-a-Maui/North Island. All projects generate solar power but differ in how they store and share energy. Projects from earlier funding rounds are reporting that installing equipment like solar panels and household batteries can make a huge difference to families struggling with their power bills. Some have had theirs drop by 30% to 50%, the Associate Minister of Housing, Peeni Henare, stated.
As the country transitions towards a net-zero carbon future, it’s important to fund projects like this that test new ways to share and store off-grid renewable energy to see at a micro-level what works well, and better understand the costs, benefits, and challenges. This will be valuable when considering future projects, such as the new $16 million community-scale renewable energy fund that was announced in this year’s Budget, Woods said.
In May, the government announced that the drive to decarbonise industry and further accelerate preparations for a sustainable, more resilient future would get a boost from the Climate Emergency Response Fund in Budget 2022. The government is supercharging efforts to encourage the switch to cleaner energy options and transform the energy system by expanding the Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry Fund (GIDI).
Woods had noted that the government would secure New Zealand’s long-term energy future with an ambitious package of measures to help slash emissions, and ensure it seizes the economic opportunities that come with the transition to a low-emissions world. “Rising global energy prices we cannot control show we must wean ourselves off expensive fossil fuels, scale up our ambition to decarbonise industry, and future proof our energy system, to ensure that a cheaper, more secure energy supply becomes the norm,” she stated.
The government claimed it is investing around $650 million over four years to massively increase the size of the funding available to the GIDI programme, which means it can expand the number and type of projects that receive money, including high-impact decarbonisation projects of national significance.
