Building the real-world blueprint for a better energy future.
The Queenstown Electrification Accelerator is a community-led and supported electrification pilot project with the goal of building the 2050 energy system by 2030, a lighthouse example for the world. We help homes and businesses achieve lower bills, lower emissions, and higher resilience through electrification.
What is electrification?
Electrification is the replacement of fossil fuel machines (gas, petrol, diesel) with electric. The fundamental thermodynamics of electric machines means they do the same task with less energy, often 3 - 4 times more efficient! Combining this with cheap electricity from rooftop solar means homes can save thousands every year, businesses even more. If you're someone that likes the details, you can see our research papers Electric Homes, The Electrification Opportunity, and The Machine Count.
Heating
Heat pumps are 3x to 4x the efficiency of gas space heaters, a Queenstown home heating rooms with bottled gas at the moment can expect to save about $1000 - $2000 per year on energy bills if they swap it out for electric heat pumps.
Water Heating
Hot water heat pumps use about 70% less energy than gas water heaters, a Queenstown home switching from bottled gas to an electric heat pump can expect to save about $400 - $800 per year, even more when combined with solar.
Vehicles
Electric vehicles are about 4x more efficient than petrol vehicles, and can save hundreds or often over a thousand dollars a year on fuel costs depending how much you drive.
Cooking
Induction cooktops are 2x - 3x more efficient than gas, can boil water faster, save money on bills, and improve indoor air quality. They are easier to clean as a bonus.
Rooftop Solar
Rooftop solar is the lowest cost electricity for most homes New Zealand, and can often save around $500 - $1500 per year all costs included. Financing solar means you can save money from day one.
Batteries
Batteries can further lower energy bills especially when combined with solar, and crucially provide backup energy resilience especially relevant with Queenstown's AF8 earthquake risk.
Lighthouse innovation project
The world’s most electrified destination, one home and business at a time.
QEA is here to help homes and businesses electrify, to save money on bills, strengthen resilience, reduce emissions, and to become a lighthouse destination that leads the world in sustainable tourism. Together, we're aiming to make Queenstown the first destination on Earth powered entirely by clean energy.
This is no small goal and we appreciate it's scale and ambition. If you're a business or individual who wants to help drive world-leading energy innovation in the adventure capital of the world, we'd love to hear from you.
Quotes about QEA
"There’s a massive opportunity to power the local economy with cheap, locally made electrons, many of them generated via solar on rooftops, rather than expensive foreign fossil fuel molecules that come from half way around the world. This will keep money in the community, create local jobs, and hopefully make Queenstown globally recognisable as a leader in low cost, high resilience, and low emissions energy.”
“The Queenstown Electrification Accelerator will showcase how an electrified energy system using smart demand-side flexibility has the potential to defer network and transmission investment, saving consumers money and providing greater regional resilience. The Authority is supporting this project through its Power Innovation Pathway due to its potential to deliver consumer benefits.”
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“The Queenstown Electrification Accelerator builds directly on the direction we’ve set through Council’s Regional Deal proposal, Climate & Biodiversity Plan, Spatial Plan, and Economic Diversification Plan. These strategies share a common purpose to reduce emissions, develop future-focused communities, and strengthen our local resilience. We know energy costs are climbing, our emissions need to fall, and our power supply is vulnerable. This project tackles all three head-on. That’s what excites me, it’s practical, community-driven change, backed by strong local and national partnerships.”
Embrace and be part of a smart electric future. I’ve loved every step of our own journey. From building smart and welcoming our first electric car in 2016, to now running on grid tied plus 9 Powerwalls, 170+ solar panels, and an electric fleet of bikes, motorbikes, and vehicles. Electric technologies have given us cleaner energy, lower costs, greater control, and the comfort of knowing we’re future-proofing our home and business. Even small, smart changes add up to powerful results, protecting our environment and building resilient communities for our temporary locals, our tamariki, and the generations to come. The time is now.
“One of the only ways we’ll get there is to rapidly adopt existing electric technology in our homes and businesses. We need to focus on the things we can do now while the harder challenges - like aviation - continue to be worked on. There is a first mover advantage and economic benefits for the region, and it is a chance for us to create a real visionary point of difference that strengthens Queenstown’s place in the world through the energy transition.”
There are countless reasons to electrify everything, and even more reasons to act now, with urgency. Nearly every machine we use every day has a cleaner, more affordable (over its lifetime), and simpler electric alternative, not to mention one that’s often more enjoyable to use than the fossil-fuelled versions we take for granted. For a resilient community, a thriving environment, and a better future for our manuhiri and our kids, our mission is clear: electrify everything, for everyone.
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