Australian battery coup for Vector
Vector has beaten rivals to supply Australia’s Territory Generation with battery storage technology in a multimillion deal for the New Zealand firm.
Auckland- based Vector won the Alice Springs battery energy storage system project in a competitive tender to provide a five- megawatt system to help improve the Northern Territory’s energy network.
Vector has smart meters in Australia, but the Territory Generation contract i s its first battery storage foray across the Tasman.
Vector will design, engineer, build and install the battery storage, and is responsible for maintenance.
“You see so many countries now looking to decarbonise, and customers being much more engaged in having choices around energy,” chief executive Simon Mackenzie said.
“This technology is not only a much better solution than deploying traditional network assets, putting in things like batteries and control environments and demonstrating how [ they] can be used not only lowers network costs but also provides customer choice.”
Vector has three other opportunities across the Tasman, some of which are in the final stages, according to Mackenzie.
Last year the company installed a utility- scale battery at the substation in the Auckland suburb of Glen Innes, while tally of home batteries — often paired with solar technology — stood at 445 at December 31, from 291 a year earlier.
Mackenzie said Vector had taken a lead in the technology space and had also expanded its suite of services by acquiring E- Co Products Group, better known as home ventilation firm HRV, and solar power firm PowerSmart.
Vector also holds the exclusive Australasian rights to use Israeli developer mPrest’s software to integrate and develop new energy services and manage a number of technologies on its network.
Mackenzie said that opened opportunities to pitch the network management tool alongside solar and battery products.