NGĀTI WHĀTUA ŌRĀKEI Community
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POWERING A REAL SENSE OF COMMUNITY
Introducing solar energy and batteries changes the whole energy profile.
Kāinga Tuatahi in Kupe Street is a 30-home residential development for iwi first home owners delivered by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. Vector has collaborated with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei to demonstrate how a future community energy solution might operate by installing solar and battery storage in each home. Not only is this already changing how these residents consume power, but how they will one day share it as well. Located on trust land on a four-hectare site close to the centre of Auckland, the community provides environmentally efficient, socially
integrated housing for the descendants of Auckland’s largest hapū. Eighty percent of the houses meet the Government’s affordable definition, meaning they cost
$550,000 or less. Batteries included
There’s an inverter and a Tesla Powerwall battery at each property. Residents stay connected to mains power and pay for that, but their monthly energy bills have fallen to as low as $13. Each system is paid for as part of a monthly development fee that residents pay to Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, which also includes their mortgage repayments. The energy that’s stored in the neighbourhood could one day stay in the neighbourhood That capability is a glimpse into the future we see for New Zealanders: neighbour-to-neighbour distribution, potentially allowing people with excess power to exchange it with those who need more but don’t have the means, or to sell it to their neighbour or back to the grid for additional income.
Photo credit: Paperboy and Michael Lewis.
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