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There never has been a better time to generate your own power. Several forces are coming together: peak oil pushing the cost of energy ever skywards; power companies failing to make the necessary reinvestment in ageing infrastructure; public objections to river-wrecking big projects causing them to stall; the wealth of free information about how communities and individuals can generate and own their power; policy shifting towards facilitation of small projects. But, looking at New Zealand's industrial heritage, it seems we are simply going full-cycle.
High above Arrowtown lies Bullendale. These are the headwaters of Skippers Creek, which feeds the Shotover, one of the greatest gold-bearing rivers in the world. The mother lode was discovered in the winter of 1863, at the head of the Right Branch of Skippers Creek. Various mining companies built water-powered batteries, and worked their claims. By 1889 George Bullen had bought them all out, and was the sole owner of the Phoenix Mine.
Earlier, around 1886, conflict over water rights during the dry summer months had prompted Bullen to explore the possibility of electricity to drive the stamper battery. A generating station was established in the more reliable Left Branch, with transmission lines going over the Southberg Spur. How two Brush Arc dynamos, a Brush Victoria motor, and two six-foot diameter Pelton turbines were ever got up the hill is testament to the strength, determination and avarice of the pioneers.
Here are some things that George Bullen didn't do: commission a million dollar feasibility study, dam the Shotover River, start a power company. When the little Bullendale community began to fall apart around 1902 the environment wasn't exactly wrecked forever. A few artifacts remained to be documented a century later by archaeologist P.G.Petchey. The grasses grew up around them, birds perched on rusting Kiwi industriana. Not really a problem.
So much small hydro exists from the early period: One Mile Creek, Kourarau, Pupu, Onekaka, Kaniere Forks. All of these survive as functional schemes, generating power today. But New Zealand's demand for electricity was growing. Various Acts were passed facilitating the advancement of big schemes.
The advantage of big hydro schemes is that they generate a lot of power. The disadvantage is that suitable dam sites aren't usually near the load. How many cities have a big dam inside the ring-road? Transmission lines mean more compulsory purchases, more easements, more desecration of the landscape. Transmission accounts for 20% of the losses on today's national grid. Transmission lines age and need to be replaced, or they fail.
In 1992 under Robert Muldoon's Think Big programme came New Zealand's most controversial dam. A monument to the vanity of politicians in the face of all reason, The Clyde Dam weighed in at 334 feet and a planned capacity of 612MW. The load the power station was meant to service, a smelter at Aramoana, never eventuated. Orchards and communities were submerged, the wild Clutha caged.
Just six years after the $1.5 billion Clyde fiasco Auckland's CBD was without power for five weeks. The blackout affected 60,000 workers and 6,000 apartment dwellers. Ships provided temporary power to the grid from their generators. But for the heroic effort of the Quay Street substation it could all have been a lot worse. This is a problem across the developed world, electrical infrastructure is starting to show its age. There has been insufficient reinvestment, the money has been handed to the shareholders; they didn't spend it on cables.
In 2006 Morgan Williams, Commissioner for the Environment, issued the report Get Smart Think Small. The document promoted distributed generation, engagement and adaptation by the end users, and was a neat way to mitigate the cost of massive infrastructure renewal. After not being allowed to generate your own electricity, suddenly you were being encouraged to do so. And to sell back to the grid whenever you created a surplus. The capital costs neatly passed to the private sector. User contributes to generation, user manages demand, user pays. Localization was back, big time.
Enter Rob Hopkins, leader of the Transition Towns movement. Beaming from Totnes in Britain to a world following, Hopkins' message is one Kiwis are ready to hear. Build resilient communities of people who are prepared to adapt to change, grow their own food, manage demand, and build bridges to local government. A big part of this resilience, in the context of peak oil, is renewable energy.
Just now, Britain is leading the way. But New Zealand in some ways is already there. Local generation distributed over a micro grid sounds very much like Bullendale 120 years ago. It will cause a drift away from the cities, and will create villages within city blocks. Bring it on.