Energy Hardship Expert Panel Report

The Energy Hardship Expert Panel (EHEP) submitted their final report, ‘Te Kore, Te po, Te Ao Marama Energy Hardship: The challenges and the way forward’, to the Energy Minister back in July. Perhaps the ‘machine of Government’ cranked too slowly to allow us all the opportunity to see this report ahead of the election? Whatever […]

The Burden Shouldn’t Fall on those Carrying the Most Weight Already

Th heading is used in this article written by Ketan Joshi about the need to be careful with how we transition quickly away from a high carbon way of living. The basic argument is that causing further large and unnecessary environmental or social harm to build large scale renewable generation/storage will slow the transition down […]

How a Humanitarian Hedge Could Help Lift Our Communities Out of Energy Hardship

This opinion editorial has been written by Bill Heaps. Bill is the Founding Director of Energy for Good Limited and Independent Director of the Community Energy Network (CEN). Since 1990, Bill has held senior executive positions in New Zealand’s electricity industry. He undertook influential leadership roles in the development and operation of electricity markets, including […]

People Power – Kiwi Style?

How can we leverage community energy to provide a fair transition to a low carbon world. Plenty of lessons from overseas!

Otaki Solar Farm, a renewable energy project by Energise.

Energise Otaki Solar Farm

Energise Otaki Solar Farm is a renewable energy project by Energise Otaki, a charity developing and implementing energy awareness, efficiency, and microgeneration projects since 2011. It embarked on the Otaki solar farm proposal in 2015, working with experienced industry specialists who volunteered their time for feasibility modeling and technical design. In July 2019, it received […]

Why is collecting data important to growing healthy community energy sectors through ownership of renewable generation assets

Community Energy

A healthy, growing community energy sector supports communities to take ownership of assets that provide renewable generation, operation, and demand management services. This allows each community to: Eliminate energy hardship by providing high engagement in energy generation and use. This engagement provides opportunities to develop retrofit projects that are focussed on making homes efficient and […]

Our Response to Covid-19

Community Energy Network (CEN) supports the Government in its tough new policies and a large financial support package released in the wake of COVID-19. We applaud the people-first approach while recognising that we will all need to be open to change and lean into innovative approaches to provide solutions for our communities in the coming […]

A Fresh Energy Hardship Framework

CEN Introduction What do we need to do to eliminate energy hardship in Aotearoa/New Zealand? The framework discussion below is the second blog of two written by Ian McChesney. It neatly highlights the key areas for discussion and emphasises the need to improve the way we develop consensus on complex issues that deeply impact the […]

Energy Democracy

Energy democracy is the idea that New Zealand can shift from a centralised, top-down provision of energy to one that prioritises deep engagement and local decision-making for communities to literally “own” their energy network. The reason this is so important is not only because it helps to give a resilient supply of electricity, but it […]