Business segment reports
200 MW Peak demand under orchestration in Auckland by 2032
SHAVING THE PEAK The premise of Vector’s Symphony strategy, as it relates to electricity networks, is that non-network solutions – specifically demand-side response coupled with more smart technology – will enable a more affordable and fair transition. This is achieved by optimising network costs to decarbonise the economy. As customers deploy distributed energy resources such as EVs, solar and batteries, we can take advantage of the energy storage properties of batteries and hot-water cylinders to allow for load to be shifted away from peak times through orchestrating when each individual battery or hot water cylinder is charged.
A crucial time for residential EV charging With EV uptake continuing to increase significantly, it’s now urgent to ensure the extra electricity demand can be accommodated efficiently. EV growth in Auckland is leading the way and as such we’re fully engaged with regulators to ensure smart residential EV charging can be adopted, allowing investment efficiencies to be realised and lowering consumer cost. However, more needs to be done. Slow regulatory and legislative responses to the issue of managed and smart EV charging risk a larger Auckland network having to be planned and built while regulatory clarity emerges – an outcome which is not in the best interests of consumers. We’re continually monitoring EV uptake, as we need to stay ahead of adoption curves in our planning so that we can continue to seamlessly connect these carbon-reducing technologies to Auckland’s network. As newer, cheaper models become available, we must be ready to both increase investment sooner than planned and deliver managed EV charging to prevent constraints occurring.
The energy data revolution Through the provision of smart meter data, we are now receiving vast amounts of information regularly and securely. This includes smart meter data for 87% of our electricity network, comprising 25 million data records each day. This highly valuable data is vastly improving our visibility into network performance and is helping us manage investment, understand customer trends, and model impacts at an individual street level by seeing changing household consumption patterns, for example as households purchase EVs. We’re now looking to incorporate network quality data, which is also captured by smart meters, into our planning, and continue to refine the use of real-time smart meter ping functionality, to help with storm restoration processes.
Gas transition We’re continuing to engage with the Government and other parties on New Zealand’s gas transition, to ensure that the transition away from fossil gas is managed effectively. A managed transition means no surprises for customers, that customer choice remains available for as long as possible, that customers don’t have forced migration and expensive appliance upgrades they weren’t planning for, and no sudden, large loads are switched to the electricity network as a result of rapid switch-offs from gas. This is the best way to achieve equitable outcomes for consumers and asset owners, while achieving government objectives. There are significant costs involved, with the Climate Change Commission’s demonstration transition pathway indicating costs could reach as high as $5.3 billion to consumers and businesses, a figure which is likely much higher now due to the inflation experienced in the more than two years since the estimate was put forward. We look forward to the next step in this process, with a forthcoming ‘issues paper’ consultation on the future of gas.
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