Castle Hill Community Grid and Battery
Proposal: A solar hub and battery storage based at Castle Hill Village
Tell us about your community or project
* what kind of community energy project are you developing/interested in?
* how did the idea come about, what does success look like, what stage is the project at?
We see the project having three possible main objectives:
- To support the Castlehill basin/Craigieburn emergency response and recovery in the event of a disaster
- Reduce the Castle Hill village infrastructure’s reliance on the grid, thereby also reducing associated carbon emissions
- It could also form part of a Virtual Power Plant with grid stabilisation capabilities if Orion were interested in supporting this as an option.
Castlehill village is a remote alpine village in Selwyn district on the key transit route of state highway 73. It is a popular destination all year round, both as a place to stay and a day trip from both Christchurch and the Coast for biking, skiing, climbing and tramping, as well as being a busy rest stop on the drive between the coasts – the village recently had the public toilets upgraded. Castle Hill village is 25 minutes away from its closest fuel and food shop in Springfield, and 40 minutes from its closest medical centre in Darfield. However, Porters Pass comes between. In an emergency event this is likely closed by snow or slips and impassable. The only other route east is via a metal road to Coleridge. During the rainfall event of 2021 bridges were washed out on this route too. All communications failed as well.
Village capacity, infrastructure and development
There are approximately 200 homes currently connected to services at Castle Hill, with 13 homes in the village considered a primary residence for their owners and others considered holiday homes.
The village has a further 100 or so sections that are yet to be developed, with some of these zoned commercial.
Current SDC infrastructure at Castle Hill consumes approximately 33,000 kWh of power annually, which includes: wastewater treatment, fresh water treatment, chlorine analysis and the community hall. Street lighting data was not available to include in this estimate.
An EV fast charger managed by ChargeNet is active and located by the community facilities of the hall and toilets.
Orion maintain a substation located at Castle Hill as an exit point from the Transpower run main electricity grid.
Improving the ability of residents and Civil Defence to respond in the event of an emergency
In the event of a severe storm or natural disaster cutting access to the Craigieburn valley, the village becomes an essential hub for civil defense. The hall, the facilities and village as a whole regularly provide an essential base for stranded travelers or visitors. In the event of a large earthquake the village could be cut off from road and utilities for weeks and the village might have to support many hundreds of visitors. The hall currently has a small generator and fuel on site, but this would not be sufficient in a longer term emergency. Members of the Arthur’s Pass community have also expressed an interest in such a scheme and this could serve as a blue-print for a wider community-based network of “resilient hubs” along remote stretches of our key transit routes.
In the village, solar panels would help power the hall, wastewater treatment plant, toilets, (dark sky compliant) street lights and any other community facilities, thereby reducing the village’s load on the local grid, electricity costs to Selwyn council and ratepayers as well as reducing associated carbon emissions.
A Virtual Power Plant and grid stabilisation is a possible third benefit of this project with Orion’s substation located close to the Wastewater treatment plant, which is owned by SDC. This could be worth exploring.
Long term energy resilience for home owners and associated landowners
Depending on how the project was funded and executed, residents and perhaps including the wider community of the neighbouring stations, could opt in to add solar panels to their roofs or land and become part of a Castle Hill community grid and battery.
The project would need support to:
– identify and build stakeholder support (create a stakeholder list as a starter?) Yes-
– define scope and scale
– identify funding pathways
– identify location/s for infrastructure and relevant permission/rights required
– establish the best entity to enable the project to succeed (trust, partnership etc)
– liaison support?
The idea came about with the Orion accelerator following discussions about community response to AF8 and hearing about other community energy initiatives.
7.
Tell us about you and your group, your community and any partners you’re working with. What capability and skills do you have that could help develop a community energy project?
- Community members Kate/Helena leading the initial Expression of interest in collaboration with
- CH Community Committee members (Ray, Rick, James?)
- Selwyn Council have been approached and are interested
- They could support engagement with Iwi, DOC.
- Sunshine Solar are potentially interested as funding partners
- Orion (energy infrastructure managers)
- Other landowners, stations.
Kate Hodgins
Kate has been involved in a number of community groups over the years, latterly as board chair for St Martins school, and has helped to support or initiate projects, build support, coordinate funding and communicate/collaborate with the wider community. She has an interest in the community energy sector developed through community work over the past two years and is also interested in supporting community resilience having lived in Christchurch over the past 20 years. She is also an owner and regular visitor to the village and the area.
Helena Parsons
As a trained design manager, Helena recently led the successful construction of a 1300m2 multi tenanted commercial build in Christchurch and is a solar advocate after installing a 132 panel rooftop array that provides 40% of the annual building power needs and generates a return outside operational hours.
She has had a long term association with the Malvern area as a frequent user of the many Castle Hill recreation offerings and is now a home owner in the Castle Hill village. Along with other home owners, she worked with DoC to establish the iconic Hogs Back mountain bike trail accessed from Castle Hill, which continues to bring joy and great views to many riders and walkers at all ages and stages of fitness.
8.
What are your current challenges or areas you need some expertise?
- Define the scope of the project (a staged approach?) , how realistic is it? (from a technical feasibility perspective), how well would it work in the event of a disaster i.e as an off grid system?
9.
The pilot will be a mix of online and in-person learning, including site visits to local community energy projects. Community groups should expect to commit four to six hours per week over the 13 weeks. Hours committed and site visits are expected to be outside of normal working hours.
If selected, how many people from your group are likely to take part in the Activator?
- At least 2 (Helena, Kate).
10.
Which of these topics is your group interested in? (select all that apply) All…!
Understanding different types of community energy models
*Identify stakeholders, your Iwi and the values of sustainability equity and resilience.
*Develop your overarching vision and define success for the project
*Build community engagement, celebrate milestones and tell your story
Define your governance structure and roles
Understanding the electricity ecosystem in Aotearoa New Zealand.
*Plan an outline of your community energy project.
*Finance and contracts
*Selecting a contractor to build your project
*Connecting to the Grid
Developing your long-term operational plan
Selling your electricity
probably most of the above, but certainly
Identify stakeholders, your Iwi and the values of sustainability equity and resilience.
Develop your overarching vision and define success for the project