Vector Electricity Asset Management Plan— 2020 Update
Accordingly, we will continue to target investments as efficiently as we can by supporting traditional network assets with digital and new energy solutions for the long-term benefit of energy consumers. New energy solutions, such as smart demand response and demand management technologies (such as smart EV chargers), can respond to customers and flatten peak demand, optimising network assets whilst meeting customer needs. These technologies deliver the most benefit when they are coordinated through a digital platform – such as our Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS). “Enabling the different drivers of a new energy future – such as demand response, EVs, and renewable DER – to coordinate seamlessly around customers enables a system which is greater than the sum of its parts, delivering greater return on investment.” SYMPHONY IS CREATING A NEW ENERGY FUTURE FOR OUR CUSTOMERS Whilst energy supply chains have traditionally focused on connecting generation to customers, Symphony is creating a New Energy Future which starts with the customer and ensures our energy systems respond seamlessly and efficiently to their needs. With Vector being majority owned by Entrust on behalf of customer beneficiaries, our interests are our communities’ interests. Every customer is different, but every business and residential customer is facing significant change in the way that they consume electricity and get around. At the same time, customer service expectations are increasing as a result of new technologies and business models that have invested in digital services, rather than physical infrastructure. This approach enables businesses to be agile and responsive to changing customer needs and delivers intuitive, relevant services that meet the needs of each individual customer. Understanding customer behaviours is key to delivering network optimisation with the needs of the customer at the centre. Vector is working with partners across the sector to develop behavioural based insights to understand, for instance, the role of price incentives to manage demand efficiently, equitably and in line with customer needs and preferences. Vector is working with Mercury on the Power Down Trial to test the impact of financial incentives to reduce electricity consumption during peak times. Whilst the findings are still in the early stages, this study will be a step toward understanding the role of incentive-based price levers to manage demand. We have used behavioural insights to deepen our understanding of the demand impact of new energy solutions including energy efficient appliances, solar PV, or switching to/from gas. These insights inform our network management and strategy and have implications for customer cost and experience as well as New Zealand’s wider transition to a low emissions energy future. These insights shed light on the value of implementing customer facing energy efficiency measures to achieve New Zealand’s wider energy goals. Understanding the behaviour of our own customers is key also to understanding how transferable overseas policy interventions could be to the New Zealand context. Symphony creates a new energy future for our customers through the integration of data analytics and digital platforms which support distributed energy resources (DER) – such as solar PV and batteries, and smart demand management technology. This enables us to understand customers and to create a system which responds seamlessly to their needs. In turn, this supports the transformation of our wider energy system – to start with the customer, not the power-plant. SYMPHONY IS A WHOLE GROUP STRATEGY Symphony provides a blueprint for the Vector group to lead the creation of intelligent and affordable energy systems that empower our customers and communities well into the future. At its core, Symphony leverages new energy solutions to deliver optimal outcomes for customers, society, and the environment in the context of disruptive change. Because new energy solutions are designed around customer needs – rather than old regulatory or market silos – Symphony is not confined to the networks part of the Vector group. It takes a whole-of-systems approach that requires seamless coordination – between our network and customers; within the Vector group; across the energy supply chains; and between Government and industry. Our drive to re-organise ourselves around the customer is reflected in the recent move to reengineer our organisational model, to further enable the Symphony strategy. This will see the Vector group transition to a collaborative working model, reflecting the groups’ priority to leverage constructive interdependencies – both internally and externally (see section 3 for the latest organisation diagram). Across the Vector group the Symphony strategy is shaping our approach to creating a New Energy Future. For example, reducing emissions from transport is a complex challenge which draws on the efforts of many. Vector OnGas, which has a fleet of 80 trucks, is investigating a trial of electric trucks as a first step in understanding the infrastructure costs and changes associated with the electrification of the heavy vehicle fleet – a transition which will have direct implications for Vector’s distribution network and the national transmission grid. Vector PowerSmart is concurrently working with Auckland Transport to understand the network impacts of the electrification of buses. These efforts are alongside our continued engagement with the Ministry of Transport to support the Green Freight Project, which seeks to understand how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from New Zealand’s heavy vehicle fleet. As transport accounts for 20 percent of New Zealand’s overall emissions, this strategy is a key first step in New Zealand’s decarbonisation efforts and will require a coordinated approach. “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Peter Drucker
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