Bay Harbour: March 20, 2024
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Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz<br />
Wednesday <strong>March</strong> <strong>20</strong> <strong>20</strong>24 <strong>Bay</strong> <strong>Harbour</strong> News<br />
NEWS 5<br />
Group sets sights on green energy future<br />
• By Dylan Smits<br />
SOLAR PANELS on city council<br />
buildings and communityowned<br />
energy are part of the<br />
grand vision of the new Lyttelton<br />
Energy Transition Society.<br />
The group was first<br />
conceptualised in October by<br />
bays residents who want to see a<br />
faster local transition to cheaper<br />
and greener energy.<br />
“Our focus is on climate<br />
change, renewables and the lack<br />
of ability in the current energy<br />
sector to address<br />
climate change,”<br />
said committee<br />
member Thomas<br />
Kulpe.<br />
The society<br />
was recently<br />
registered and<br />
is awaiting<br />
approval for<br />
charitable status.<br />
Thomas<br />
Kulpe<br />
One of the group’s first goals<br />
is to help finance solar panels for<br />
city council facilities, especially<br />
the Lyttelton Recreation Centre.<br />
“That has the purpose<br />
of increasing resilience in<br />
Lyttelton if there were prolonged<br />
power outages like in Cyclone<br />
Gabrielle,” Kulpe said.<br />
The society wants to partner<br />
with the council and energy<br />
companies to make these<br />
installations happen.<br />
SUN POWER: One of the society’s first goals is to install solar panels on Lyttelton’s city<br />
council facilities such as the recreation centre.<br />
“We will hopefully be able to<br />
finance panels through grants or<br />
through crowdfunding.”<br />
Kulpe hopes Lyttelton<br />
residents will get behind the<br />
vision and the society’s longterm<br />
goal of more communityowned<br />
energy.<br />
“We have the idea of having<br />
public talks and workshops in<br />
Lyttelton and hopefully raise<br />
interest and awareness.”<br />
The society is inspired by<br />
micro-grid communities in<br />
Australia and Europe, where<br />
large residential areas have their<br />
own power source with only one<br />
connection to the general grid.<br />
“Generation, storage, and<br />
distribution of electricity by the<br />
community. That is the longterm<br />
vision for us.”<br />
From Diamond <strong>Harbour</strong><br />
himself, Kulpe said establishing<br />
more renewable energy for<br />
Lyttelton buildings would be<br />
positive for whole harbour area.<br />
“There’s many places and<br />
activities in Lyttelton that people<br />
always migrate to.”<br />
The society is appealing for<br />
more members, especially those<br />
with connections to fundraising<br />
or renewable energy.<br />
“We’re still in the set-up<br />
phase, hopefully we’ll get more<br />
members once we have public<br />
meetings and start putting<br />
ourselves out there more in the<br />
community.”<br />
One of the society’s first<br />
public engagements was at the<br />
Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū Banks<br />
Peninsula Community Board<br />
meeting on <strong>March</strong> 11.<br />
The society has been cofounded<br />
by Wendy Everingham,<br />
information centre manager,<br />
Patricia Scott, environmental<br />
activist, electrician Sam Tweedie<br />
and Greg Preston, manager<br />
at the Building Innovation<br />
Partnership based out of<br />
Canterbury University.<br />
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