Our MD, Gary Holden, was welcomed as a keynote speaker at this weeks Decentralised Energy Forum #DEF2024 hosted in Canada this week. Gary and #LodestoneEnergy continue to attract international interest for their achievements in elevating solar energy’s role in New Zealand along with their innovative Virtual Rooftop Solar proposition. In Gary’s words: “Customers like the idea of renewable energy. They want someone to do it for them in an easy way... to make the complicated simple. It's a long-term decision that goes with you from place to place. It's exciting what happens when people start to think this way.” #DEF2024 #VirtualRooftopSolar #SolarEnergy #NZSolarFarm #SolarFarms
The opening keynote speaker was Gary Holden, managing director and founder, Lodestone Energy Limited, who shared the consumer-focused shift happening within decentralised energy in New Zealand. This shift harnesses solar, the most cost-effective form of energy, and removes important adoption barriers. His company is developing an alternative to traditional rooftop solar panels installed on homes and businesses by building "virtual rooftop panels" where the panels are on a nearby farm and consumers can sign 20-year contracts with the company. The contracts are portable from location to location, removing an important barrier for consumers when they're making decisions about purchasing a long-term solar energy solution. "We know customers like the idea of renewable energy. They want someone to do it for them in an easy way...to make the complicated simple," he said. "It's a decision you make for life that goes with you from place to place. It's exciting what happens to people when they start to think that way. It's a mindset change." He added his company's goal is to build a solar farm in every town with backup battery storage to ensure the electricity is available when needed. There's a fair bit of complexity inherent in the IT system required to support this solution, especially at scale, but it's a challenge he's confident can be overcome. "A solar farm in every town is the purest form of energy production, but it has to be big. You have to have a big plan and big data. You have to talk big and be big to make it happen," Gary said. "The main theme I want to leave you with is customers will drive the outcome. Give the customer the choice and they will make it," he said. "This is a breakthrough for engaging customer mindsets. They can own capacity in a solar power plant that is not on their own house. It is somewhere else."