Lines boss says goodbye

He’s most properly often called the person who led the Christchurch earthquake restoration.

However Roger Sutton has been on the helm of arguably an important firm within the Ashburton District for the final 4 years.

He has been accountable for protecting the lights on in Mid Canterbury because the chief government of EA Networks, the domestically owned cooperative working the electrical energy distribution and fibre optic communications networks.

However now he is making ready to depart for brand new pastures, forsaking an organization he believes is properly positioned to deal with challenges sooner or later.

“I’ve at all times loved working within the vitality sector, the place we all know what we do counts.”

His enthusiasm for vitality effectivity and decarbonisation is figure he’s set to proceed in his new function, becoming a member of Deta Consulting.

Deta is a Christchurch-based agency that assists companies throughout Australia and the Pacific to regulate vitality use and cut back vitality prices.

He will probably be changed by Onno Mulder, who takes over in March.

Sutton began within the sector at what was Southpower in Christchurch in 1996, with the corporate changing into Orion in 1998.

He later grew to become its chief government in 2003, accountable for an organization spanning the Rakaia River to the Waimakariri river.

Orion was larger, whereas EA is extra neighborhood targeted, he mentioned.

“At Orion, you have been extra distant from the true points however right here I’ve needed to become involved in issues like visitors administration.

“The smallness means I’ve needed to roll up my sleeves extra.

“It’s been extra hands-on and dealing with all kinds of individuals.”

He has typically stepped out of the workplace to “get on the instruments”.

“Not fairly getting up a ladder however often helped digging a ditch.

“I’m thought-about competent sufficient for that however not competent sufficient to climb the ladder.”

Whereas being larger, Orion nonetheless had the identical problem of protecting the lights on.

Then got here the Canterbury earthquakes.

Sutton was chosen by the Authorities to be the primary chief government of the Canterbury Earthquake Restoration Authority (Cera) in 2011.

“That was an enormous change.

“The setting was so troublesome. There was a lot to do and figuring out how one can prioritise what you probably did was so vital.

“There was no template of what to do subsequent.”

He had the mammoth job of steering the restoration plans, and searching again there have been issues he would do in a different way.

“All these vacant tons, I’d have been rather more deliberate and constructed low cost buildings shortly.

“The identical means we constructed a short lived rugby stadium, we should always have constructed momentary workplaces and lodging that will have had the CBD populated.

“That means we might have had much less growth on the fringes of town, which I believe has dispersed town in a means that isn’t good for the long term.”

Whereas there have been issues he is aware of he might have achieved higher, “total issues went fairly properly”.

Sutton resigned from Cera in 2014 after a workers member made a proper criticism about him. The high-profile investigation into the criticism made headlines on the time. Sutton moved on to develop into a Christchurch Anglican missioner, operating the church’s social companies arm, which he mentioned “was a great grounding for me”.

He then took over as the top of EA Networks in 2020, changing Gordon Guthrie who retired after 20 years as chief government – and 44 years with the corporate.

The corporate is stuffed with passionate individuals who commonly get off the bed within the worst of climate to repair faults and get individuals’s energy again on, he mentioned.

In comparison with different rural areas, Sutton believes EA Networks is without doubt one of the greatest for guaranteeing minimal disruption.

The Ashburton District Council is almost all shareholder (95%), and it’s a firm owned by its prospects who need the lights to stay on, and in the event that they do exit, they need data on when they are going to come again on, he mentioned.

The altering world and a rising reliance on digital gadgets means individuals are much less tolerant of energy outages, he mentioned.

“Folks settle for there are nonetheless going to be energy cuts however they’re going to be particularly illiberal to lengthy energy cuts.

“You do have to go in your laptop, cost your telephone, and cost your automotive.”

Reliability is a key accountability of a strains firm and at EA Sutton feels that has continued to enhance throughout his tenure – “by way of principally a whole lot of good work that was began lengthy earlier than I used to be right here”.

A big a part of that’s the work going into placing the ability strains underground, and in comparison with different districts, Mid Canterbury is forward of the sport, he mentioned.

“We’re greater than 90% by way of the community.

“A few of that can take the subsequent 10 years to do as a result of it’s work we do when we have now the spare capability.

“It prices a bit extra, however it’s extra dependable.”

EA Networks faces the identical challenges any strains firm does, he mentioned.

“Making an attempt to organize the community for decarbonisation and masses changing to electrical energy, whether or not it’s industrial masses utilizing electrical boiler or individuals shopping for electrical autos.”

Trying to the longer term, the corporate will proceed to play a key function within the district.

“Going ahead, electrical energy goes to develop into much more vital.

“It permits us to maintain our telephones going, run wifi, and people types of issues but additionally as individuals transition to electrical automobile as properly.”

The district has additionally had a whole lot of city growth, requiring new strains and connections to be put in.

“We’ve got seen extra development in the previous couple of years than we have now seen for a few years which is a optimistic signal.”

EA Networks is properly positioned to satisfy the rising demand, he believes.

“New Zealand wants to extend the output of its electrical energy by about 60% over the subsequent 25 years to satisfy the wants of electrifying transport and changing coal and fuel boilers across the nation.

“We’re going to want to attach much more renewable electrical energy and [Mid Canterbury] is in a greater place than most different locations to attach it as a result of our community has been constructed huge and robust for the irrigation masses.”

In easy phrases, the community is 5 occasions larger than a typical rural community, he mentioned.

“If you wish to go and construct a photo voltaic or wind farm, it’s a lot simpler and cheaper to attach it at scale to this community than it’s to nearly some other rural community within the nation.”

A big-scale photo voltaic farm is deliberate at Lauriston by Genesis Vitality.

The 90-hectare web site will maintain roughly 80,000 photo voltaic panels with a capability of 60 MW and generate round 90GWh of renewable electrical energy yearly – sufficient to energy near 13,000 homes.

“They haven’t began however are hoping to have it commissioned by Christmas subsequent yr.”

There’s a want for extra renewable vitality sources, however it must be balanced by the truth that Mid Canterbury has good productive land.

Renewable vitality sources have to be numerous and unfold across the nation, he mentioned.

“If all of us have photo voltaic on our rooftops, then how are we going to maintain the lights on in Auckland on a cloudy day.

“We’d like to ensure they’re distributed in locations the place it is sunny when it is cloudy in different elements – like on the West Coast when, on common if it is sunny there it isn’t raining within the hydro lakes”

“We’d like wind and photo voltaic which produce when it’s not raining within the hydro lakes.”

Throughout his time with EA Networks, he has additionally labored with most of the huge boiler house owners within the district to assist them decarbonise, together with Ashburton Hospital and Ashburton Faculty that are already within the technique of decommissioning coal boiler programs.

He beforehand acknowledged that shutting down the district’s coal burners would scale back the identical quantity of emissions as all of the autos within the district produce.

“We’ve got had a number of discussions with all these huge industrial customers about how we may help them decarbonise and people have been good discussions.

“We really feel we’re extra prepared than most are to assist them change.”

With regards to decarbonisation, it’s generally higher to hunt huge reductions than to hunt zero, he mentioned.

“We have to be rational about how we pursue local weather change and we do issues that make financial sense and don’t simply do issues that make us really feel good.

“Typically 5 initiatives to cut back emission by 50% are higher than one which reduces by 100%.”

The “political slogan” is usually the enemy of reaching issues with local weather change, he mentioned.

“Whether or not you imagine local weather change or not, there’s a sturdy view that until our producers are producing meals which can be decrease carbon, we in the long term may have hassle promoting our stuff into many markets.”

As he prepares to depart EA, he praises the individuals he is labored with.

“I’ve loved being part of the neighborhood, a part of a enterprise stuffed with enthusiastic, passionate individuals who need to do one of the best for the neighborhood they reside and work in.”

By Jonathan Leask