Community Energy in Action

This Isn’t Just a Plan — It’s Already Happening

WeShare has been laying the groundwork for years through real-world pilots, public events, technical testing, and local consultation. This isn’t theoretical. This is how the work gets done.

Real-World Pilots & Demonstrations

✅ 5 x Home Hybrid Solar + Storage Pilot / pre pilot
Led with Integrity Electrical Ltd. Focused on maximizing economy of scales cost efficiencies of installations thru reviews of works, cost breakdowns, installation flow, and community review.

45 x additional Home Hybrid Solar + Storage Pilot (50 total pilot)

Moving forward with additional installations in conjunction with key stakeholders (Ecotricity, Vector & SEANZ)

✅ Resilience Pods for Outages
Co- developed portable, solar powered critical-load kits for emergency communications for local Piritahi Marae community initiative  which are fully grid independent and will be located and available at key facilities during outages or natural disasters.

✅ Multiple Trading Relationships Pilot (Our Energy)
Collaborated with Our Energy (led by John Campbell, WeShare strategic partner) to explore peer-to-peer and multi-entity energy trading.

✅ Waiheke High School Large Solar System
Designed and installed a major education-sector system with integrated monitoring and learning potential.

✅ FoxESS System Testing (Multi-Year)
60+ FoxESS hybrid systems installed and monitored across residential and light commercial sites. WeShare now has verified proof-of-concept on robustness, usability, and value.

✅ Community Consultations & Energy Symposiums
Held across every major community hall on Waiheke. Feedback and insight were captured and used to map barriers, motivations, and future plans.

✅ Founding Member Installations
Early adopters were given financial incentives to pilot our systems and provide detailed feedback. Many report improved energy security and savings — and are now active ambassadors for the project.

What We’re Learning
  • Transparency and trust must underpin all offerings
  • Quality of products, installations and follow up services is paramount
  • People want energy security, but affordability and simplicity matter most
  • Bulk logistics reduce cost, but demand clear technical standardisation
  • Grid constraints and regulatory clarity are key levers for expansion

What Comes Next

We’re now planning:
  • Rooftop solar roll out – island wide
  • Commercial installation pilot stage
  • Community-scale solar and storage hubs
  • Open-data dashboards and usage visualisation tools
  • Exploring Grid-interactive upgrades to support EVs and peak load smoothing
  • Blueprint release for other towns and island communities
  • Full institutional and co-op-led ownership rollout

This page reflects the living history of the WeShare project to date. And we’re just getting started.