The world is at the start of an energy revolution. With renewable electricity increasingly replacing climate change-causing fossil fuels across our economy, we will shortly require much greater volumes of reliable and sustainable electricity for homes and businesses.
A lot of the public focus has been on how New Zealand will generate the low-carbon electricity we are going to need to power an electric vehicle (EV) fleet and industrial processes that have previously relied on coal or gas.
But generation is just one piece of the puzzle.
We also need to be smarter about how we manage our electricity networks, adopt new technology and support changing customer preferences. Our future networks will be much more complex than they are today, bringing challenges that include two-way flows of power, greater peaks and troughs in electricity use and more complexity in matching supply with demand.
In June alone, Transpower issued three notices to encourage immediate action to avert power cuts. As more of us plug in our cars to be charged and switch from gas heating to heat pumps, how we spread out electricity demand will be an important tool in ensuring our networks are as efficient as possible and for preventing disruptions.
While the technical challenges and risks should not be underestimated, the electrification of New Zealand’s energy needs is being
eagerly embraced by lines companies and promises significant rewards for both the climate and consumers.
New technologies such as smart load-control devices and EV smart chargers are going to be crucial as part of this transition by allowing lines companies to communicate with devices in their customers’ homes, helping to seamlessly reduce peak loads. This isn’t just efficient; it can also save us all money by avoiding unnecessary investment in overbuilding new generation and network upgrades.
While batteries for storing electricity at home — for example, from solar panels on the roof for use in the hours of darkness — are in relatively few homes, there has been an explosion in popularity of EVs. Importantly, these come with their own batteries, and they are big ones.
EV-owning households will soon have the option to use power stored in their cars to help power their homes in emergencies or when electricity demand, and prices, are particularly high. They can then charge them at night after they are in bed, or in the middle of the day, both times when demand and prices drop.
Aurora Energy, which owns and manages the electricity lines in Dunedin, Central Otago and Queenstown-Lakes, is continuing to look at innovative ways it can actively support decarbonised communities. This includes providing connection upgrades and simplified pricing that means customers can meet their own decarbonisation objectives.
One example is Aurora’s support of Forest Lodge cherry orchard in Queensbury to assess a range of capacity and pricing options and deliver a connection solution that best meets its needs. Forest Lodge is New Zealand’s first zero-carbon horticulture business, its solar, batteries, electric tractor, vehicles and other equipment being actively managed to respond to real-time energy and distribution prices.
In a New Zealand-first project, Aurora has also procured a non-network solution from a solar energy specialist to develop a system that stores energy from home solar units to use during periods of peak demand. SolarZero provides Wanaka and Upper Clutha customers with an affordable (zero upfront costs) option to install solar panels and a smart battery in homes in the area, which can then be made available as a virtual power plant to support the local network. This will not only enable Aurora to defer spending of up to $25million upgrading power lines from Cromwell to Wanaka, but also fast-track the use of technology that is critical to achieving New Zealand’s climate-change goals.
Aurora is looking for other opportunities to extend its use of non-network solutions outside of the usual poles and lines, which will help optimise the timing of investment in traditional electricity infrastructure and therefore keep prices more affordable for customers. Earlier this year, it invited distributed energy resource providers, owners, flexibility traders and new market entrants to contact Aurora if they felt they could contribute to a decarbonised energy future, initially in the Upper Clutha-Wanaka area, with other areas on the radar in the future.
A lot is happening in the background right now that does not attract much attention, but you can be assured lines companies are well-advanced on meeting the challenges of climate change and the electrification of our economy.
