Northland power outages could be mitigated with increased battery storage. Government must prioritise energy resilience.
Emma Bossley, June 21, 2024
Auckland, 21 June 2024
Northland’s current outage is just the latest episode in an ongoing series of system failures that highlight the lack of resilience in our electricity network.
Extreme weather events, increased peak demand, and failures of supply are costing New Zealanders millions of dollars in lost revenue.
Adoption of battery energy storage systems has begun at grid scale as well as in businesses and homes around the country, however, more storage should be installed quickly to increase the resilience of homes and businesses as well as reinforce the grid.
SEANZ is calling on the Government to do two things:
Introduce Cost-Reflective Pricing. Homes and businesses should be reimbursed for their ability to support the grid. Reward-Flexibility payments would recognise the ability of electric vehicles, small and large scale solar and batteries or other smart energy systems to alter their behaviour in response to energy shortages, selling energy back into the grid when needed to increase electricity supply.
Implement more financing options for homes and businesses to contribute to the grid.
SEANZ is urging Minister of Energy, Simeon Brown, to mandate lines companies and retailers to enable retail product innovation and offer pricing which appropriately values battery storage.
SEANZ Chair Brendan Winitana says: “power outages such as those experienced across Northland currently could be mitigated, saving millions of dollars in lost revenue, through a higher penetration of battery storage.
“Government action on fair pricing and finance can future-proof New Zealand against inevitable power outages ”.
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