Improved planning for tight supply
OFFICIALS are looking at better ways of choosing who gets the power in the face of occasional shortages and relentlessly growing and competing demands.
The Electricity Authority (EA) said it was ‘‘considering improving the prioritisation processes to filter out more speculative applications’’ to connect to power networks. This is among a long list of measures the authority, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and others say they have begun work on to improve supply.
But a new Ministry of Energy will not be among them.
‘‘The government has no plans to create a Ministry of Energy,’’ Energy Minister Simeon Brown said..
The largest distributor, Vector in Auckland, has its own long list of connections it has to make and networks it has to build to keep up.
It has warned the country needs ‘‘a coordinated strategy and a plan’’ for critical decisions, such as around the new demands of data centres and electric vehicle (EV) charging.
‘‘We’re not saying we want to interfere with the market or anything, but we have to have visibility so we can manage the impact of them,’’ chief executive Simon Mackenzie said. ‘‘You’ve got multiple operators coming in and trying to
provide new solutions to customers, but they all have to still be coordinated, so that the networks can manage them and ... you’re not building network unnecessarily.’’
The government had an overarching ‘‘Electrify NZ’’ programme focused on boosting investment in renewable electricity generation. Just how that will be done, and just who will do it, are among the big questions.
MBIE said there was ‘‘no work under way to create a Ministry of Energy or a ‘nationwide longterm plan’ ’’. Planning and regulating was widely dispersed across MBIE, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, the EA and the Commerce Commission.
The commission later this year will reset how much revenue is available to the country’s 29 distributors to invest in network upgrades.
The EA determines how prices are set to access the networks.
‘‘We are hearing that EV chargepoint operators believe they face high costs and difficult processes for new connections from distribution businesses,’’ MBIE general manager of energy markets Justine Cannon said. Coincidentally, the authority put out its next steps on distributionpricing reform, including connection costs, on Tuesday.
‘‘We want distribution pricing to send the right signals about the cost of the electricity
that’s being fed to homes and businesses,’’ the EA said online. It has set up a new group to consult with the industry.
‘‘We’re already working with industry to determine what regulatory changes are needed to make it easier to connect load, like public EV charging stations,’’ network pricing director Tim Sparks said. A ‘‘Supercharging EV Infrastructure CrossAgency Taskforce’’ has been set up. Some users were facing ‘‘inefficiently high upfront charges that could act as a barrier to electrification‘‘, and the authority was working to counter that.
It was not all about making it easier; its work included the filter on ‘‘more speculative application‘‘, Mr Sparks said. On the big job of spreading out peak demand so networks did not have to be overengineered, its work included improving visibility around how chargers or batteries and other smart devices were being used — what Vector has called for.
‘‘Less poles and wires’’ could result from work on a ‘‘flexibility services market’’ to encourage a wider spread of energy resources, including in more locations.
Mr Mackenzie said other countries had renewable energy zones so ‘‘you don’t have to upgrade big transmission systems to cater for something that’s thousands of miles away from the load’’.