Business Unit Reports Regulated Networks
To understand how the climate is expected to change, we chose two different scenarios that relate to how the world’s greenhouse gas emissions will track out to 2030 and 2050. The first (RCP4.5) of these aligned to the world meeting the Paris agreement and keeping warming to within two degrees. The second (RCP8.5) was more closely aligned to the current rate of emissions continuing with significantly more impact expected. The modelling covered the climate variables of wind, precipitation and temperature, and revealed that wind will continue to have the most significant impact on Vector’s assets with the number of hours with wind in the 70-80km/h range projected to increase materially. While not specifically modelled, flooding and landslides/erosion were considered to pose a moderate risk, while both sea level rise/storm surge and wildfires were projected to be low risk. Although low lying areas of Vector’s network will be increasingly vulnerable to high tides and coastal events as sea levels continue to rise, key assets including substations and grid exit points are generally not at elevations that will be affected by sea level rise out to 2050.
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THE APRIL 2018 STORM SAW MASSIVE DAMAGE FROM TREES DRAGGING DOWN POWER LINES.
CASE STUDY: BATTLING THE ELEMENTS To better understand the potential physical impact of climate change on Auckland’s electricity and gas network, Vector commissioned an assessment of how projected increases in global warming might lead to physical impacts on assets. The business was already acutely aware of the impact of high wind events and a review of network fault and outage data against historical wind speeds confirmed this correlation. However, less was known about other climate parameters and how these, along with wind, would be affected under climate change.
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In response to this, we have deployed a solution which provides real-time artificial intelligence-based threat detection. This solution has visibility of connected network assets on the electricity distribution control network to enable early visibility of any potential attacks. This improves our responsiveness and limits the potential impact of any breach.
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This was largely driven by the release of accumulated Loss Rental Rebates and an increase in capital contributions – up 14.7% to $70.2 million – reflecting 4.6 % Revenue for our Regulated Networks business increased: to
STATE OF THE ART TECHNOLOGY HELPS CONTROL AUCKLAND’S NETWORK.
$776.2 M
CASE STUDY: PROTECTING THE CROWN JEWELS At the heart of our regulated business is a control system that manages the operation of the distribution network. Traditionally, control systems were ‘air gapped’ (a network security measure) from IT/Corporate systems to provide a layer of protection. As more internet connected distributed energy resources (DER), fault sensors and hot water load controllers become standard components of a modern distribution network, relying only on this type of defence is less effective as the potential attack and risk of compromise of our control system increases.
continued connection growth and significant
infrastructure development taking place across Auckland.
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Vector://AR 18
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