Time to move over

So after 15 years cranking out my blog and podcast for Energy News, I’ve been wondering what to do next – most of the themes I’ve been following have played out and are quite mainstream these days: digital disruption, democratisation, exponential technologies, decarbonisation and market reform.

But I’ve a lot of loyal readers and listeners on the platform and it seems a bit daft just to pull up stumps and head off into the sunset. Talking it out, I’ve been encouraged to think that I can use the platform to host some new voices and unconventional perspectives to shed some light on how we’re going to manage the energy transition.

So I’ve recruited some help to get me started: for the next few weeks, Sophie Burgess “the Accidental Energy Professional” and Esther Tomkinson who’s the co-Chair of the Young Energy Professionals Network will be joining me as we start the journey.

We’re talking to Anna Berka, a Massey University lecturer with an interest in community energy.

She was responsible for the incredible New Zealand Aotearoa Community Energy Dataset, a register of all local or community owned renewable energy initiatives in New Zealand that covers everything from consumer trust-owned networks to community and Iwi-owned renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

Wrapping up our three-month exploration of community energy, I ask Anna to get her crystal ball out and tell us what we can expect to see next. 

She’s not too optimistic.  Unusually I am …

Anna’s explained how New Zealand’s not doing so well where other countries are.

This week I ask her what’s missing in our market.

So NZ’s not too flash at community energy development – who is?  We know about the Scandinavians and the Scots, but it turns out there are a few real surprises …

We’re talking to Anna Berka, a Massey University lecturer with an interest in community energy.

She was responsible for the incredible New Zealand Aotearoa Community Energy Dataset, a register of all NZ local or community owned renewable energy initiatives.

It took eight weeks to get clear about what we’re discussing, but now we’re into it and how NZ’s doing.  Not great, unfortunately.

We’re talking to Anna Berka, a Massey University lecturer with an interest in community energy.

She was responsible for the incredible New Zealand Aotearoa Community Energy Dataset, a register of all NZ local or community owned renewable energy initiatives.

My third sceptical challenge to Anna was whether community energy projects were inefficient because they’re subscale.  She says this might have been true once but maybe not anymore.

We’re talking to Anna Berka, a Massey University lecturer with an interest in community energy. She was responsible for the incredible New Zealand Aotearoa Community Energy Dataset, a register of all NZ local or community owned renewable energy initiatives. My second sceptical challenge to Anna was the effectiveness of community energy subsidies.  They aren’t always effective. But she tells us they can be – and that’s important.

We’re talking to Anna Berka, a Massey University lecturer with an interest in community energy.

She was responsible for the incredible New Zealand Aotearoa Community Energy Dataset, a register of all NZ local or community owned renewable energy initiatives.

This week we talk about how to simplify and de-risk community energy initiatives by sharing the experiences of early projects.  Turns out that it’s not as easy as I’d thought.

We’re talking to Anna Berka, a Massey University lecturer with an interest in community energy.

She was responsible for the incredible New Zealand Aotearoa Community Energy Dataset, a register of all NZ local or community-owned renewable energy initiatives in New Zealand.

Before talking about what’s going on in NZ and overseas, I challenged Anna about whether community projects are really capable of complex project management.

We’re talking to Anna Berka, a Massey University lecturer with an interest in community energy.

She was responsible for the incredible New Zealand Aotearoa Community Energy Dataset, a register of all NZ local or community owned renewable energy initiatives.

 I thought I’d see if I understood the links with economic development and capital formation – and just as well I checked.