Vector Annual Report 2018

case study: The Internet of Energy

energy resources (DERs) is in line with our projections for tens of thousands of these DERs to be connected to the grid by 2020. This prompted Vector to develop and introduce a sophisticated management and control ‘system of systems’ energy platform solution called DERMS (Distributed Energy Resource Management System). In development for 12 months, the first DERMS product release in April 2018 gave us the ability to monitor batteries on substations such as in Glen Innes. Later this year, an additional release will allow integration of EV chargers and home batteries onto DERMS. When fully operational, it will connect traditional infrastructure (like electricity lines and substations) with new energy generation and storage (like solar and battery energy solutions) onto one platform. It will allow Vector to integrate, oversee, manage, and optimally power more than half a million homes and businesses in real-time. Or to put it another way, the ’Internet of Energy’. The potential benefits are enormous. For example, we will be able to better predict potential transformer overloads and draw from other energy sources to avoid outages. We will be able to dynamically shift loads in response to sudden changes in demand or during significant weather events such as the storm

in April 2018. We will be able to easily move energy around the network and to and from homes. We also see it as a way to help democratise energy and address energy poverty through greater network control and by providing a platform for choice and innovation. We can help enable consumers to make the most of any distributed technology, including solar, battery and peer-to-peer trading. In introducing the Internet of Energy, we have had to develop a hybrid delivery model. Alongside traditional network engineering we’ve had to work with relatively new IT concepts such as an open micro-service architecture, and exponential technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud storage and management. It’s a new and exciting prospect for the energy sector – not just for New Zealand but even globally there has been significant interest in this emerging network technology. n

How you receive, use, and store your energy in 10 years time will be significantly different to now.”

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Vector://AR 18

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