21DSG32
Doctoral Thesis
Project commenced:Jefferson Dew (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa), University of Otago
Peaks in electricity demand cause substantial issues for electricity systems’ infrastructure requirements. Demand-side management provides opportunities to reduce these peaks and create a more sustainable and affordable electricity supply. Dairy farming, being the third largest electricity use sector in Aotearoa has a role to play in enabling this transition, but is so far not meaningfully represented in the efforts of electricity sector organisations to alter electricity demand.
By working with highly industrialised dairy farms owned and operated by iwi organisations I aim to demonstrate not only the technical potential that these (and other) farms have to reduce electricity demand peaks, but also overcome barriers to change that the farmers face in adopting new technology and practices.