1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,800 Speaker 1: A group called Rewiring Altiera. They're posing a serious challenge 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:05,800 Speaker 1: to the residents of Queenstown. They want to see the 3 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:10,119 Speaker 1: city become the world's most electrified destination. To help with this, 4 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:14,120 Speaker 1: they've launched the Queenstown Electrification Accelerator to help homes and 5 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: businesses save money while switching to electric. Mike Cases, the CEO, 6 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:19,119 Speaker 1: with me this morning, get a. 7 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:20,960 Speaker 2: Mike, Good morning, Ryan. 8 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:22,759 Speaker 1: How are you very well? Thank you, good to have 9 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:26,800 Speaker 1: you on the program. First of all, your group, Rewiring Altier. 10 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:30,480 Speaker 1: Why have you started this group? Where do you get 11 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: your funding? What's going on with it? 12 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:36,559 Speaker 2: Yeah? So I'm an originally electric cherry farmer from Central Otago. 13 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 2: So I electrified my entire farm twenty one electric machines 14 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:44,040 Speaker 2: and started jumping up and down about the savings opportunities 15 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 2: on farm and eventually expand into creating or helping to 16 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:50,479 Speaker 2: create an NGO that is funded by a lot of 17 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 2: philanthropers in New Zealand now, which is all about helping 18 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 2: the rest of New Zealand to sort of realize the 19 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 2: huge savings potential from converting off Saudi Arabian molecules and 20 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 2: onto New Zealand homegrown electrons. 21 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:04,919 Speaker 1: Why have you picked Queenstown. Why are you picking on Queenstown. 22 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:08,440 Speaker 2: I We're not picking on Queenstown. We think Queenstown is 23 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 2: possibly the best opportunity we have to start doing the 24 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 2: real world action to start trying out all the things 25 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:18,360 Speaker 2: that need to happen to massively or quickly electrify a 26 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 2: particular place. We think the business community is really aligned 27 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 2: under their carbon zero twenty thirty targets that were set 28 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 2: by the council. The councilor is really aligned and we 29 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 2: have a lot of very active community members in the 30 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,839 Speaker 2: space that are super excited about the opportunity that's available. 31 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 2: Queenstown has some of the highest energy prices in New Zealand, 32 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:41,960 Speaker 2: so it's a really good place to start. And also 33 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 2: it's got a lot of problems with potential resilience issues 34 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 2: from things like the Southern Alpine fault. So having Queenstown 35 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 2: generate and store a lot of its energy itself and 36 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 2: having machines in Queenstown that can use the energy that 37 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 2: it can generate and store itself is pretty good start. 38 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: It sounds like a great idea. The only problem is 39 00:01:57,840 --> 00:01:59,600 Speaker 1: how much it costs to actually do that right. I mean, 40 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 1: otherwise we'd all have solar panels on our roofs totally. 41 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 2: And so this is one of the key things about 42 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 2: why we're focusing very closely now on a particular community 43 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:12,400 Speaker 2: is we want to make sure that everything from group 44 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 2: buying deals are set up to going and negotiating on 45 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 2: behalf of the community for things like financing deals. One 46 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 2: of the biggest barriers to overcome is that upfront capital 47 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 2: cost of say putting solar panels on your roof and 48 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 2: a battery in your garage and getting gas out of 49 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,080 Speaker 2: the home. But we're now at a position, especially in 50 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:32,920 Speaker 2: places like Queenstown, where the capital repayments and the interest 51 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 2: repayments on financing new electric technology may end up actually 52 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 2: being cheaper than your current energy costs. So it means 53 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:40,799 Speaker 2: people can save money from day one. 54 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: Do you think that, because I've looked at doing this 55 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: myself in Auckland, But do you think people just maybe 56 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:48,760 Speaker 1: aren't aware of that fact yet and once you tell 57 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:49,920 Speaker 1: them they will do something. 58 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 2: Well, I've got a challenge to you. My secret goal 59 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 2: has been to get solar panels on like Hoskin's roof, 60 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:58,920 Speaker 2: but maybe I should change that to riot and we'll 61 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:02,240 Speaker 2: sit down together and I will run you through the details, 62 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 2: and I reckon, within half an hour to forty five minutes, 63 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:08,720 Speaker 2: we can convince you of the economics of it. And yes, Wade, 64 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:09,120 Speaker 2: do you know what? 65 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: It would be easy to get me across the line 66 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:14,639 Speaker 1: and someone hopefully will throw in something free and I'll 67 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:18,079 Speaker 1: do it. I'll do it tomorrow. Hosking is a different 68 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: kettle of fish because I don't know, I feel like 69 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:22,799 Speaker 1: putting solar panels on his roof would be some sort 70 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:24,440 Speaker 1: of existential crisis for him. 71 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 2: You know, I think at the end of the day, 72 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 2: like I'm doing a lot of this with farmers of 73 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 2: New Zealand, and you know, there's a lot of people who, 74 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 2: you know, might approach this with a level of suspicion, 75 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 2: and I think rightly so, because there has been a 76 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:38,920 Speaker 2: lot of virtue signaling in this space for a long time. 77 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 2: But even now I reckon, you know, you give him 78 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:43,880 Speaker 2: a spreadsheet and he looks at it, He'll be like, Okay, 79 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 2: I can see the value in doing this. 80 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: The other problem we've had, I think, with climate change 81 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: and with renewable energy in general, is just that there's 82 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: there's people who just come across as tosses who espouse it. Now, 83 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: there's not you might obviously, but I'm just saying it's 84 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 1: it's had a bad rap I think with Middle New Zealand. 85 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 1: Is that fair to say. 86 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 2: I think that's one hundred percent fair to say. And 87 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 2: I've caught my fierce ere of flack as a result 88 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:10,920 Speaker 2: of that. You know, you kind of get tired with 89 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 2: the same brush. But when you start to talk about 90 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,279 Speaker 2: economics rather than emissions and start talking about, you know, 91 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 2: the benefits to the actual individual from doing this rather 92 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:23,039 Speaker 2: than the you know so much about, say climate and 93 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 2: the emissions associated with that, you start to win people over. 94 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 2: And I've been doing it one farmer at a time 95 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 2: on farm. I'm off the field days today very excited 96 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 2: because there's some major packages that are being announced for 97 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 2: solar and electrification of farms in general. And yeah, now 98 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 2: it's about doing it at the same thing at the 99 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 2: residential level, starting in Queenstown. 100 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: Good on your mike, And I think that nothing ventured, 101 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:47,360 Speaker 1: nothing gained, and what's the harm. You know, someone wants 102 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: to put a solar panel on their roof, who cares 103 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 1: they're not paying for it? And that I think is 104 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:53,479 Speaker 1: the important message in all of this Mike, thank you 105 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:56,720 Speaker 1: very much for coming on the program. For more from 106 00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to news talks 107 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:03,279 Speaker 1: it'd be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast 108 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio.