Newsletter No.24 April 2026

Committee News

Hi Everyone,

This past month has seen Sam and Raymond working behind the scenes to move our Project Lyttelton community energy forward. Discussions have been held with Orion to understand what support they can offer and talks have also been held with Are Ake to discuss battery possibilities. Progress is slow but we’ll will keep chipping away until our goal is achieved.

Here is a link to our March Minutes for all the details on what was discussed

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kaByMRri_p0riKryqS-TJM7tHfTXucUx/view?usp=sharing

Our next committee meeting will be Monday April 27th at 7pm.Please note our new meeting meeting place is 54A Oxford Street at Project Lyttelton (The Portal) above the Garage Sale.

**See you at our next events.**Sam Kivi will be our next Guest Speaker Wednesday April 22nd 7.30pm. Bookings are essentialfor Sam’s talk as the seating is filling up fast.**https://events.humanitix.com/lets-guest-speaker-sam-kivi**

If we sell out we will also be live streaming this event so you won’t miss out.

Wednesday May 6th we are also hosting a film evening on Community Energy - We The Power. To book follow the link.

https://events.humanitix.com/we-the-people-community-energy-film-night

Finally introducing a new Lyttelton fb site called **Lyttelton Community Resilience**. LETS has signed up to this platform to share our activities with other Lyttelton groups who are also working in this space. You might also like to sign up as an individual.

Wendy, Dana, Greg, Juliet, Tony, Margarita, Raymond and Sam.

To book your ticket please register at https://events.humanitix.com/lets-guest-speaker-sam-kivi

Key Thoughts on Energy

Green MP Scott Willis recently hosted an energy conversation. Panelists were:

• Allan Miller, 30 years of expertise in electricity, technology and the renewable energy industry.
• Samantha Elder, founder of Climate Navigators focuses on putting people and communities at the heart of the energy transformation.
• Dr Jen Purdie, a climate scientist who specialises on climate and the impacts on our energy system.

With an election close by, this session began with the panelists sharing their thoughts about a hypothetical encounter with the new Minister for Energy and their key messages to him/her.

Sam Elder -Her thoughts were that NZ needs an enduring and effective approach to energy. She believes the transition should be very collaborative incorporating the government, iwi and society in general. She opts for an initial framework for quick wins to be introduced focusing on energy efficiency and rapid uptake of EV’s. Energy resilience is a key and tackling the dry year risk should also be a high priority.

Dr Jen Purdie -Her immediate recommendations were to decarbonise as quickly as possible due to the climate emergency. She wanted to highlight that expanding renewable energy inputs creates a lot of intermittency in the system. This intermittency needs to be moderated by firming. Firming generates stability in the system. She wants to see a “firming” solution like the Lake Onslow project proceed immediately, not the LNG terminal. She’d also like a portfolio of solutions - an energy strategy would be a great start that has bi-partisan support and she’d like to see a suite of subsidies especially for gas to electricity conversions.

Allan Miller -He also advocated for an energy strategy with the goal of decarbonisation and increasing energy independence. He wants to achieve three things:

• Affordability and security of supply
• Energy Efficiency improved
• A mixture of small scale and large scale generation

Other key things that the panel conversations discussed to improve NZ’s energy independence were:

• the market needs more regulation
• supply needs to be closer to demand
• we need to maximize the existing infrastructure and build flexibility into the system
• EVs should be used as short term batteries
• enable local markets by creating energy hubs
• focus on community resilience and generate power from all the low hanging fruit ie schools, hospital and government building roofs
• create more subsidies to speed up the transition, the decarbonisation of heat is a particular issue.
• ensure that local people benefit from the new energy installations

The pressing issue of “Dry Years” was also discussed. NZ has huge challenges around dry year energy supply especially in the next few years. When the hyrdo lakes aren’t full how do we produce constant energy? We have few options - more coal, pumped hydro, LNG, geothermal or bio mass?

• Dr Purdie said that batteries are not big enough to do the job
• newer technology in geothermal may be able to help but not in the short term
• no easy solutions to this issue in the short term
• in the past Methanex has been able to divert it’s gas for the production of electricity. With the gas almost gone this will not be able to happen. We are going to loose the flex in the system and we don’t have anything to replace that with.
• This is a big risk to the network that is not easy to solve in the short term.

On a positive note Dr Purdie is working with a PHD student to present a solution/s to this dilemma and the paper should be released within the next few months.

Data Centers generated a short discussion. As a huge consumer of power should NZ host these sites? Dr Jen Purdie believes they are only warranted if they provide security for NZ data. In her opinion they offer the NZ public little and just consume large amounts of energy that could be used for other things.

The panel concluded that there needs to be a simple high level 100 day energy plan at the beginning of the next term of government with bi-partisan support that is enacted with speed that engages with all sectors of society to create a resilient energy system that works for us all.

On Wednesday, 22 April, the Christchurch City Council will consider a proposal to restrict fossil fuel advertising on council-owned infrastructure. This meeting follows similar policy adoptions by other New Zealand local authorities, including the Greater Wellington Regional Council, which recently implemented a ban across the Metlink public transport network.

The discussion will take place in the Camelia Chambers (Level 2, Civic Building). A public demonstration is scheduled to coincide with the council's deliberations.

Public Assembly 9:10 AM Outside Camelia Chambers (Level 2) Meeting Commencement 9:30 AM Camelia Chambers Public Forum Speakers ~9:33 AM Council Chamber Anticipated Vote ~12:00 PM Council Chamber

More Solar Power to Export?

We reported a short while ago that there was the possibility of being able to export more of your home generated electricity into the grid. We are pleased to advise you that Orion - our local distribution provider has agreed to allow you to export up to 10kW phase back into their grid. There is a proviso, this only applies to people who have systems bigger than 5kW and depends on your system equipment and the capacity of the grid in your area. Might be a good idea to speak to your system installer to see if this is available to you.

To book a seat visit https://events.humanitix.com/we-the-people-community-energy-film-night

Co-Chair Sam Kivi Recognised

How fantastic it was to see Co-Chair Sam Kivi listed in The Press’s Power List’s of Influential people in the South Island as a person to Watch in 2026. Sam has been on our Board since the inception of LETS and as you know has big dreams for community energy in Canterbury.

"Speaking of power, the good news is that New Zealand is getting more and more of its electricity from clean, renewable sources. The tricky part is that the weather is variable, which means wind and solar power can fluctuate. Kivi, who is co-founder and chief technology officer of Grid Share, speaks the new language of system flexibility and demand response. Grid Share's flexible data centres are designed to act as a 'virtual battery', meaning power is both sustainable and affordable. At a local level, Kivi is a board member of the Lyttelton Energy Transition Society, which aims to foster sustainable independent electricity." Phillip Matthews: The Press March 22

Lincoln University Event

To register visit : https://www.lustateoftheland.co.nz/upcoming-events/april-vibe

If you would like to car share please get in touch with Wendy communityenergylytt@gmail.com

Time to Renew Your Membership

Photo Credit: rawpixel.com on Freepik

It’s the start of our new membership year. Thank you all so much for supporting LETS on our journey so far. At our AGM last year we resolved that the membership fee would increase to $20 per member with the option of $5 according to your means.

Please send your membership renewal and any donations to our Kiwibank account

Lyttelton Energy Transition Society 38-9025-0680672-00 Reference Membership LETS and your name.

Your membership fees and your generous donations help support our administrative overheads. All of your donations are tax deductible and will be receipted.

Thank you all.

Dates for your Diary

Events coming up:

Apr 22nd - Fossil Ad Ban

Speaker Series Sam Kivi

Apr 23rd - Lincoln University - Running on Empty

Apr 27th - LETS Committee meeting 7pm

May 6th - LETS FILM Night

Membership

If you would like to join LETS and haven’t yet, here is a link to our membership application https://www.lets.org.nz/files/Membership%20Application.pdf

It’s very affordable, only $20 or $5 unwaged and you’ll be helping to shape the future of Community Energy in Aoteraoa. Donations are also gratefully accepted and are tax deductible. Thank you.

All members are welcome to sign up to our LETS Whats App Group. In this group we share networking opportunities and informative articles/podcasts. If you are interested please text Wendy 021 0476144.

Facebook Lyttelton Energy Transition Society -LETS

For links to our web page and email please click on the links at the bottom of the newsletter.

Do you have any news or events energy related that you’d like included in this monthly broadcast? Please email Wendy communityenergylytt@gmail.com

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