The future is electric with Rewiring Aotearoa

Mike Casey does things differently. 

As an enthusiastic cherry farmer in Central Otago, he runs the world’s first fully electric cherry orchard. Running 21 electric machines with renewable electricity from the grid, solar and batteries means he saves tens of thousands on his energy bills each year and has no need for damaging fossil fuels on the farm.  

Mike is also the CEO of Rewiring Aotearoa, a registered charity working to electrify millions of fossil fuel machines in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Rewiring Aotearoa helps likeminded community groups establish all over the motu to bring a local perspective to this challenge. ​​Te Taitokerau Northland is no exception. Electrify Te Taitokerau has been established by a group of passionate Northlanders who are keen to realise the benefits of going electric for our region – think cheaper energy bills, greater energy security and resilience, more local jobs, reduced pollution and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.  

“Te Taitokerau Northland could be the clean energy capital of Aotearoa. It has abundant renewable energy sources,” Mike says.  

“But, despite the region’s potential, Northlanders face some of the highest electricity prices in the country, and the region is vulnerable to grid outages. That’s why Electrify Te Taitokerau has formed – to help accelerate the transition to cheaper, locally-made and reliable energy through advocacy and education.” 

The team at Electrify Te Taitokerau looks forward to working with Northland communities to electrify everything – whakahiko te ao! 

Learn More 

Rewiring Aotearoa has some great resources around the benefits of electrification, including a calculator to work out how much you could save in household energy bills by electrifying the machines in your home.  

You can also ​sign up to the Electrify Te Taitokerau newsletter for regular updates about news and events.