Community Resilience & Power Hubs
Understanding the Terms
‘Community resilience’ and ‘power hubs’ are broad concepts that can mean different things to different people. WE Share does not claim to define these terms — instead, our focus is on real-world examples that address clearly identified community needs, areas of risk, and local feedback showing that these initiatives are both desirable and in the community’s best interests. The emphasis is on practical outcomes, not labels. There’s room for all — individuals, groups, and organisations — to contribute ideas, projects, and energy toward shared community resilience.
Why Now — Why Here
Waiheke’s isolation makes local energy resilience essential. Extreme weather and power disruptions have shown how dependent the island is on a single supply line. This pilot focuses on practical, community-level solutions that strengthen reliability and keep essential services powered when it matters most.
How It Fits Within WE Share
These initiatives operate within the wider WE Share framework, ensuring that each hub connects technically and socially to the island-wide Community Power network. WE Share can effectively integrate large-scale systems into its multi-stakeholder network to facilitate and support positive community outcomes.
Examples in Practice
- Community halls with solar + batteries acting as emergency shelters.
- Schools as designated emergency shelters for the community, as well as gathering destinations and day-time charging or communication hubs.
- Local businesses providing refrigeration or Wi-Fi access during outages.
Why this matters on Waiheke
- Backup power keeps schools and halls running when the grid goes down.
- Supports communication, safety, and essential needs.
- Strengthens the whole island’s emergency readiness.
- Community batteries can help keep essential services powered during outages, reduce energy costs by easing pressure on the grid, and make it possible to store and share power locally — so the value stays on the island and supports our community’s future.
- They also provide multiple opportunities for participation at different levels — from individual households to organisations and larger stakeholders. Community batteries can help identify areas for energy savings, financial optimisation, and improved emergency preparedness.
- This is a key focus area within the pilot — to explore, test, and refine how these shared systems can deliver the best community benefits. They could also provide cost-effective options for hardship cases or for residents unable to install solar at their own properties.
- This is also one of the key areas of interest for WE Share’s core stakeholders and the Electricity Authority. Developing at least one fully functional power hub is a high priority for WE Share within the Community Power Pilot, ensuring tangible outcomes for both community resilience and regulatory learning.
How WE Share Can Support You
WE Share can effectively integrate large-scale systems into its multi-stakeholder network to facilitate and support positive community outcomes. • We work with community hubs to deliver resilience benefits.
- Local people stay involved in planning and decisions.
- Proven solar + battery solutions keep vital services powered.
- Funding and community support are available — because this is part of the pilot.
Join the Pilot
By joining this pilot, you help protect Waiheke during outages and build a stronger, safer community.
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Complete a quick interest form.
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We’ll contact you to understand how you’d like to support resilience hubs — or how we can support you.
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Stay involved as solutions roll out.