{"id":3371,"date":"2022-01-24T09:54:34","date_gmt":"2022-01-23T20:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/?p=3371"},"modified":"2022-01-24T10:02:28","modified_gmt":"2022-01-23T21:02:28","slug":"hihiko-o-mangarautawhiri-power-sovereignty-in-te-rohe-potae","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/hihiko-o-mangarautawhiri-power-sovereignty-in-te-rohe-potae\/","title":{"rendered":"Hihiko o Mangarautawhiri: Power sovereignty in Te Rohe P\u014dtae"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Guest post by Cat Mitchell, Ng\u0101 Wai \u0101 Te T\u016b\u012b M\u0101ori and Indigenous Research Centre<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most people across Aotearoa get one power bill, but this is not the case for wh\u0101nau of Te Rohe P\u014dtae (the King Country), who get two. As researcher Hermione McCallum-Haire (Ng\u0101ti T\u016bwharetoa, Ng\u0101ti Maniapoto, Ng\u0101ti Raukawa, Ng\u0101ti H\u0101ua) says, \u201cfor three decades, growing up and living in the King Country has meant that we have had to pay two power bills \u2013 one to our power supplier and the other to the company that owns the lines\u201d (Energy News<\/a><\/em>, 2021). The additional expense associated with the use of the power lines is not insignificant, with the cost of the line rental often being four times the cost of the power actually used by a consumer. The effect of the \u2018double-billing\u2019 means that many kaumatua, kuia and low-income wh\u0101nau simply cannot afford to meet this expense. Many go without power in an area of the country that can experience very cold weather during the winter months (night-time temperatures as low as -5 degrees). In response to the excessive power costs faced by those living in Te Rohe P\u014dtae and the western lands of T\u016bwharetoa, a research project was undertaken in partnership with Te Mangarautawhiri \u0101 Pukehou Trust (TMaPT), who are members of Ng\u0101ti Hinemihi, and Unitec\u2019s Ng\u0101 Wai \u0101 te T\u016b\u012b M\u0101ori and Indigenous Research Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The one-year, MBIE-funded project, Hihiko o Mangarautawhiri: Power sovereignty for a prosperous wh\u0101nau and hap\u016b<\/em>, began in June 2020. It investigated sustainable energy options available to TMaPT using emerging technologies to generate power and, through doing so, restore tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake to wh\u0101nau and hap\u016b. Despite the impact of Covid, it was successfully completed at the end of November 2021 with the development of a 20-year strategic plan to guide the development of sustainable energy provision for the Trust. Hermione McCallum-Haire explains that this plan examines \u201cdifferent options \u2026 and identifies what paths to go down.\u201d The next stage of mahi looks to include critical research on matauranga M\u0101ori, resource management, engineering, climate-change mitigation, and action and opportunities for M\u0101ori to participate in the renewable-energy industry. The researchers are now applying for funding for this work to scale up the project. This new phase of the research will also involve feasibility studies, earthworks and infrastructure needs, software and hardware requirements, and the testing of a range of promising energy-generation options, including solar, hydro and wind generation methods. This project and the subsequent phases of its development represent a significant disruption to established power-industry models in a way that seeks to address deep energy inequities. Hermione acknowledges the outstanding researchers of Ng\u0101 Wai \u0101 Te T\u016b\u012b, including Professor Jenny Lee-Morgan, Rihi Tenana, Joanne Gallagher and Irene Kereama-Royal, and their contribution to this transformative study. This kaupapa M\u0101ori research project developed in collaboration with the TMaPT trust is now looking to establish an off-grid, renewable energy-generation model that, as Hermione says, \u201ccan unlock the potential of Te Rohe P\u014dtae.\u201d They also seek to provide a blueprint for other more isolated communities to have greater control over the generation and distribution of power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest post by Cat Mitchell, Ng\u0101 Wai \u0101 Te T\u016b\u012b M\u0101ori and Indigenous Research Centre Most people across Aotearoa get one power bill, but this is not the case for wh\u0101nau of Te Rohe P\u014dtae (the King Country), who get… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,59,270,79,276],"tags":[597,603,600,602,598,595,601,599,596,550],"class_list":["post-3371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-guest-blog","category-research-and-enterprise-office","category-sustainability","category-technology","tag-hermione-mccallum-haire","tag-irene-kereama-royal","tag-jenny-lee-morgan","tag-joanne-gallagher","tag-nga-wai-a-te-tui-maori-and-indigenous-research-centre","tag-power-soverignty","tag-rihi-tenana","tag-te-mangarautawhiri-a-pukehou-trust","tag-te-rohe-potae","tag-unitec-new-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3371"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3372,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3371\/revisions\/3372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}