Lines boss says goodbye

He’s most properly referred to as the person who led the Christchurch earthquake restoration.

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

He has been accountable for preserving the lights on in Mid Canterbury because the chief govt 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, abandoning 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 manage vitality use and cut back vitality prices.

He can 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 turning into Orion in 1998.

He later turned its chief govt in 2003, accountable for an organization spanning the Rakaia River to the Waimakariri river.

Orion was greater, whereas EA is extra group 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 greater, Orion nonetheless had the identical problem of preserving the lights on.

Then got here the Canterbury earthquakes.

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

“That was an enormous change.

“The surroundings was so troublesome. There was a lot to do and understanding learn how to prioritise what you probably did was so essential.

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

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

“All these vacant tons, I might have been way more deliberate and constructed low-cost buildings shortly.

“The identical means we constructed a short lived rugby stadium, we must always have constructed short-term places of work and lodging that may have had the CBD populated.

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

Whereas there have been issues he is aware of he may have carried out higher, “general issues went fairly properly”.

Sutton resigned from Cera in 2014 after a employees member made a proper grievance about him. The high-profile investigation into the grievance made headlines on the time. Sutton moved on to change into a Christchurch Anglican missioner, working the church’s social providers 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 govt – and 44 years with the corporate.

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

In comparison with different rural areas, Sutton believes EA Networks is among the finest 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 info on when they may come again on, he mentioned.

The altering world and a rising reliance on digital units means persons 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 must go in your pc, cost your cellphone, and cost your automobile.”

Reliability is a key duty of a traces firm and at EA Sutton feels that has continued to enhance throughout his tenure – “via mainly numerous 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 facility traces underground, and in comparison with different districts, Mid Canterbury is forward of the sport, he mentioned.

“We’re greater than 90% via the community.

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

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

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

“Attempting to organize the community for decarbonisation and masses changing to electrical energy, whether or not it’s industrial masses utilizing electrical boiler or folks shopping for electrical automobiles.”

Trying to the long run, the corporate will proceed to play a key function within the district.

“Going ahead, electrical energy goes to change into much more essential.

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

The district has additionally had numerous city growth, requiring new traces and connections to be put in.

“We’ve got seen extra progress in the previous few years than now we have seen for a few years which is a constructive 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 massive and powerful for the irrigation masses.”

In easy phrases, the community is 5 instances greater 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 another rural community within the nation.”

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

The 90-hectare website 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 must be various 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 want 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 want 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 massive boiler homeowners within the district to assist them decarbonise, together with Ashburton Hospital and Ashburton School that are already within the means of decommissioning coal boiler methods.

He beforehand said that shutting down the district’s coal burners would cut back the identical quantity of emissions as all of the automobiles within the district produce.

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

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

In the case of decarbonisation, it’s typically higher to hunt massive reductions than to hunt zero, he mentioned.

“We must 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.

“Generally 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 consider local weather change or not, there’s a robust view that except our producers are producing meals which can be decrease carbon, we in the long run may have hassle promoting our stuff into many markets.”

As he prepares to go away EA, he praises the folks he is labored with.

“I’ve loved being part of the group, a part of a enterprise stuffed with enthusiastic, passionate individuals who wish to do the very best for the group they dwell and work in.”

By Jonathan Leask