LEADERSHIP Chairman and Group Chief Executive report
The new energy life spiral
In addition, our ambitions and presence are increasingly extending beyond New Zealand. Our smart meter business is well- positioned in Australia and will be deploying smart meters for at least four leading Australian electricity retailers in 2018. PowerSmart is delivering the 5MW battery to Territory Generation in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, and has been selected for a similar Treescape has built a significant business in Australia, and is providing vegetation management services to a number of Australian energy networks and councils. As part of a wider multi- million-dollar energy efficient partnership with Auckland Council we launched Vector Lights in January 2018. It is a brilliant showcase for new energy solutions that is now lighting up Auckland’s Harbour Bridge using a combination of solar, battery, LED, and peer- to-peer technology, and is living proof that the new energy future is now possible. project in Niue in the South Pacific.
distributed, decentralised and democratised. Greater connectivity, artificial intelligence and data analytics will accelerate the adoption of the ‘internet of energy’, benefiting industries, communities, businesses, and individuals. Auckland is now one of the fastest growing cities in the western world, so energy infrastructure must accommodate this growth intelligently, reliably, sustainably, and cost-effectively. Customer expectations are changing too – in today’s world, we all expect continuous service and the ability to access what we want, when we want, and how we want. These are the mega trends we have observed in New Zealand and globally that have been driving our thinking as a business. And as has occurred in all other industries impacted by technological disruption, we believe these trends will give consumers more control and choice over the services they use and the way they use them. As a famous quote from writer William Gibson goes, “The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed”. We have a role to play in addressing that, and we are investing to facilitate this future in different ways. Through our network, using a mix of traditional infrastructure and emerging technologies to support Auckland’s needs now and into the future. Through smart metering, to give consumers better information on their usage and enable retailers to innovate with new products and models. And through new energy technologies for residential and commercial customers via HRV and PowerSmart. Already market leaders in delivering healthy homes, HRV’s current offering includes ventilation, heat pumps, and water filtration. Over time we see significant opportunities for HRV to deliver residential solar solutions. At the beginning of 2018, HRV Solar launched in the Auckland market with a nationwide launch to follow.
A scenario is emerging where what is good for consumers is also good for our environment, for network resiliency, for Auckland and, ultimately, for New Zealand. It’s an elegant dynamic – the more energy generation becomes distributed, the more control shifts to the consumer, the more they can reduce their own costs, the more resilient the network system becomes and the more sustainable and less carbon intensive our energy supply becomes. Over the next decade, we expect to see a lot more distributed energy resources such as solar, wind, battery, and electric vehicles on our network. Power generation will shift to a broader, more diverse generation sector as consumers can choose from a wider range of energy sources that are, quite literally, closer to home. A more distributed energy network with a greater number of localised generation and storage sources will be far more resilient. It will
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