Solar solution
Genesis Energy’s new project
Fear of foreign competition from the likes of Google and Tesla is spurring Genesis Energy to offer subsidised solar power and new technology to 100 homes in and around Martinborough.
Genesis chief executive Marc England said it was highly likely foreign technology and power companies would enter the New Zealand power market in ‘‘the medium term’’.
There were no ‘‘barriers to entry’’ for companies that wanted to sell power to homes and businesses and the market rewarded ‘‘promiscuity’’ rather than customer loyalty, England said.
Google and Apple were the ‘‘obvious’’ new entrants but England said he worried more about electric car-maker Tesla.
The threats made it imperative for Genesis to understand what new innovations would work for customers, he said.
Genesis plans to enroll at least 100 homes in its Martinborough ‘‘local energy project’’, offering them discounts on solar panels, battery storage and energymanagement software, and would be providing some electric cars.
Monitoring tools and algorithms would help customers understand and break down their spending on the likes of heating and lighting. They would be able to trade electricity between themselves and back to the grid.
England would not say what the discounts would be. ‘‘It will be a trial and error to see what price consumers are willing to pay. They won’t be paying the full market value.’’
In return, participants would need to complete surveys and work with Genesis as it developed products around their needs, he said.
Genesis selected Martinborough in the Wairarapa for its experiment because of its diversity, support from local lines company Powerco, and its proximity to the capital, England said.
‘‘The principle behind this is to go deep into a community to put resources in around new energy technologies. We need to learn fast.’’
England said that once Tesla put a battery into people’s homes, it would not be a big stretch for it to then ‘‘disintermediate’’ electricity retailers by offering ‘‘a grid-energy product as back-up’’.
‘‘Look at what is happening with the proliferation of controllable thermostats and iPhone-controllable devices.’’
Other New Zealand market entrants could include British Gas and Australia’s Origin Energy, England said.
‘‘They are doing this stuff already. It is not very hard for them to move into another market.’’
Former Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown is among those who have speculated about the potential for electric vehicle batteries to double as storage for home generation.
England said the additional discharge strain on batteries meant any EV owners who tried that now would probably risk voiding their car warranty, but it was a likely development.
‘‘The future of energy is assembling an ecosystem, in a home, of products that are linked through software that create ultimately a product that an energy customer manages.
‘‘That doesn’t mean every consumer is going to want to sit on their iPhone and control their panels every day,’’ he added.