EECA funding helps winegrowers adopt solar and battery systems
Winegrowers interested in exploring solar and battery systems on their vineyards could tap into funding and advice through a new funding programme.
Until recently alternative energy was a niche market, normally talked about by people who had goatee beards and wore sandals with white socks. How times change.
The facial fungus is gone and the shoes are now designer; renewable energy has hit the main stream, and is now a topic talked over many dinner tables. The endless rise in the cost of energy now makes the topic a firm consideration if you are building new, or indeed, renovating an older property. With this interest there has been a raft of new businesses formed to harness the energy saving properties of wind, rain and sunshine, and with such installations, major financial savings
Looking at sunshine in particular, and the early days of solar panels, we saw large, bulky glass panels that were clamped to north facing roofs after they had passed the rigours of the local planning department. They ‘looked’ different, and in many cases only got planning consent if they were hidden in roofing valleys where they as likely as not performed poorly. Solar panels also suffered a reputation of poor reliability, were easily damaged under the feet of a tradesman, or by an errant cricket ball hit for a six!
Calder Stewart Roofing Limited has come up with a solution that addresses many of the problems with a product called Solar –Rib
Featuring a steel roofing system with a modern wide valley profile, it would not look out of place on any modern design. If renewable energy is not your thing right now, no problem, it’s good roofing material. But if you do want to go down the RE route it lends itself to be used with photo-voltaic (PV) laminates, either from new or as an upgrade in the future.
PV laminates supplied by Calder Stewart are manufactured by Marcegaglia in Italy, who claim to be market leaders in this technology with 50 factories worldwide. The laminate panels are only 5mm thick and less noticeable than conventional glass solar units, and as such should fit in well where planning regulations require low impact on the surrounding environment.
The product comes with a 25 year warranty, and has the potential to generate 1kW of electricity for each 20m2 of laminate installed, so an average sized house has the potential to deliver 3-5kW of power. Other points to consider are laminates need a much shallower roof angle to generate the same power as conventional systems, they are resistant to rain, hail, snow and a tradesman size 11 safety boot.
Applications have now opened for the 2026 Meat Industry Association scholarships.
Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) says it is backing aspiring dairy farmers through a new initiative designed to make the first step to farm ownership or sharemilking easier.
OPINION: While farmers are busy and diligently doing their best to deal with unwanted gasses, the opponents of farming - namely the Greens and their mates - are busy polluting the atmosphere with tirades of hot air about what farmers supposedly aren't doing.
OPINION: For close to eight years now, I have found myself talking about methane quite a lot.
The Royal A&P Show of New Zealand, hosted by the Canterbury A&P Association, is back next month, bigger and better after the uncertainty of last year.
Claims that farmers are polluters of waterways and aquifers and 'don't care' still ring out from environmental groups and individuals. The phrase 'dirty dairying' continues to surface from time to time. But as reporter Peter Burke points out, quite the opposite is the case. He says, quietly and behind the scenes, farmers are embracing new ideas and technologies to make their farms sustainable, resilient, environmentally friendly and profitable.
OPINION: Voting is underway for Fonterra’s divestment proposal, with shareholders deciding whether or not sell its consumer brands business.
OPINION: Politicians and Wellington bureaucrats should take a leaf out of the book of Canterbury District Police Commander Superintendent Tony Hill.