this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
20 points (100.0% liked)

Aotearoa / New Zealand

1778 readers
15 users here now

Kia ora and welcome to !newzealand, a place to share and discuss anything about Aotearoa in general

Rules:

FAQ ~ NZ Community List ~ Join Matrix chatroom

 

Banner image by Bernard Spragg

Got an idea for next month's banner?

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Ilovethebomb@lemmy.nz 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

completely on solar power' when in reality, they just use the equivalent amount of solar power.

I don't see the difference myself.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

In this case, it looks like TWG is actually contributing to new solar installations. However, the difference to me is like this:

NZ generates around 80% of it's power from renewable resources. So a wind farm could just sell the right to say Countdown to say that the power generated there is for Countdown. Nothing changed, no new renewable generation was created, no one built a wind farm for Countdown. They simply painted their logo on the side and said now we are powered by renewable energy, with exacly zero environmental improvement over the state before.

If TWG are actually funding new solar farms then that's a bit different, it at least has a real world impact.

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

In the Countdown example, they'd have to make sure their power use was matched by what the generator was putting in, in which case they can accurately claim they sold the power to countdown. They may well be paying significantly more per MWH than someone buying coal or gas generated power at the same time.

While it may seem bizarre, it's how our energy grid and market works.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It's a made up example. but yeah, plenty of places claim to be powered by this or that and I doubt they are counting the timing of it in their claim.

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I'd be shocked if they weren't myself.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 1 points 2 years ago

I wonder if we'll ever know.