Vector’s energy sharing system
Anuja Nadkarni continues our series on the UN-sanctioned steps businesses are taking to meet their sustainable development goals.
Sometimes the best outcomes for the greater good of the community come through partnership. An energy provider’s endeavour to offer Kiwis affordable living, and in doing so reducing inequalities, has been lauded for its sustainability focus.
A recent Otago University study showed one-fifth of all New Zealand families had experienced energy poverty, which is when 10 per cent or more of their household income was spent on energy.
But energy provider Vector decided to balance the inequality with a sustainable future-proofing mechanism for first home owners in the Ka¯inga Tuatahi development set up by Whai Rawa, the commercial arm of Nga¯ti Whatua O¯ ra¯kei.
Residents are able to generate, store and share their own clean energy because of a networked system of solar panels and battery storage in each of the 30 homes.
Whatever energy is not used up by one house gets automatically recycled and sent to another house that needs it.
The programme won the Revolutionising Energy award at the Sustainable Business Network Awards earlier this month.
Anahera Rawiri has been living in the development with her family of six for a year and enjoying lower power bills.
She said in the summer, the family consume $50 per month of electricity and in the winter the family uses about $200 per month.
‘‘The solar panel installation has taught us to think more sustainably and be mindful of what we’re using. It gives us all equal opportunity,’’ Rawiri said.
‘‘This will hopefully become the norm in every housing development.’’
The houses range from $400,000 to $600,000, and the mortgage for the houses is paid to Whai Rawa.
Vector chief executive Simon Mackenzie said the project enabled the company to take leadership in coupling new energy technology with new affordable homes.
‘‘This is the case where a shared vision between Vector and Nga¯ti Wha¯tua O¯ ra¯kei meant we could find a model to make clean energy more accessible to people who might not otherwise have considered it as an option,’’ Mackenzie said.
‘‘Residents now have choices about their energy use as they’re no longer passive consumers of electricity.’’
He said the business sector had a responsibility in setting targets to become sustainable and reduce inequalities in whatever way they could.
‘‘We have to take a leadership position on these issues and start the conversations with other businesses and the Government to work toward the right outcomes.’’
‘‘We have to think about finding new technologies of lowering costs and thinking about the future and those that can’t afford it, and what other partnerships could be put into place to enable their energy challenges to be met as well,’’ he said.
Ngarimu Blair, a director on the Nga¯ti Wha¯tua O¯ ra¯kei Whai Rawa Board, said the collaboration with Vector had provided Nga¯ti Wha¯tua O¯ ra¯kei with a way to meet its overall objectives for the hapu¯ with a way to meet its overall objectives.
‘‘Our goal was to create a community that was self-sufficient as possible, with energy generated on site, a development with minimal impact on the environment.
‘‘A lot of thought went in to developing innovative and integrated solutions,’’ he said. TIPS:
- Partner with other organisations to provide opportunities and reduce inequality.
- Find out how the Treaty of Waitangi can help improve diversity and inclusion in your workplace by doing training.
"We have to think about finding new technologies of lowering costs and thinking about the future and those that can't afford it. . ." Vector chief executive Simon Mackenzie