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The Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment opened consultation on a discussion document about amendments to the Electricity Safety Regulations to expand the permitted voltage range for electricity supply. Rewiring Aotearoa's submission believes changes are needed to prepare for the rapid adoption of customer energy resources, and electricity distribution companies need to be compelled to allow export limits to be increased.
Overall, Rewiring Aotearoa welcomes the proposals made in the consultation. It is an important step towards better preparing the Aotearoa NZ’s energy system for the efficient and rapid rollout of customer energy resources (CER) across homes, farms, and businesses.
However, changing the standards does not compel EDBs to amend their existing export limits on CER. The Government (following this consultation) should set an expectation that EDBs move quickly to integrate these updated voltage standards into their export limits. This would effectively double the default export limit for households, encouraging the installation of larger solar systems. These systems would not only help reduce energy costs but also contribute to greater energy security by storing more energy for peak winter demand, thus helping to keep water in hydro dams when it's needed most. A phased approach could delay these benefits, while immediate action will support a faster transition to a more resilient, decentralised energy system.
Everyone is rocking on down to Electric Avenue today (this one online, not that other small one in Hagley Park in Christchurch), so let's ride the lightning: profits and electricity prices keep going up, as panels keep going down; a new paper puts a number on how much more homes with solar sell for; we're bottling things up with big and small batteries and they are eating into gas in Australia and California; transport emissions drop across the Tasman as a result of Government EV incentives, while HEB Construction electrifies its fleet; electrons are coming from above in China; and Xpeng announces the arrival of a crazy looking electric van/aircraft carrier.
Read moreDownloadWarren G and Nate Dogg said it best when they said: 'Regulators, mount up!' - and this week, they have.In a rare joint open letter, three different regulators - EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority), the Commerce Commission and the Electricity Authority - have basically told the lines companies to pull their socks up and make the most of ‘non-network solutions’ (AKA stop building more expensive poles and wires and start looking at customers and new technology as part of the solution!).
Read moreDownload"The LNG announcement from earlier this month has set the stage: electricity, and the energy sector more broadly, is set to be a major election issue this year. Casey has compared electricity to telecommunications, an area where services have become much cheaper in the last decade with technology advancing. “There are supply challenges for the grid and natural gas, and increasing pressure to find sustainable alternatives as reliance on fossil fuels becomes less viable,” he wrote in a Newsroom piece earlier this month, heralding the “electric election”.
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