Queenstown Flex Challenge
The Queenstown-Lakes District is undergoing rapid economic growth and electrification, driving the need for significant new investments in transmission and distribution infrastructure.
The opportunity: Future proofing electricity infrastructure
The Queenstown-Lakes District is experiencing rapid economic growth and electrification, driving the need for significant new investments in transmission and distribution infrastructure.
To address this, Powernet, Aurora and Transpower are undertaking work to identify the best infrastructure investment options to meet these needs. They have developed scenarios for electricity demand growth in the region, considering:
- Population and other economic growth
- Decarbonisation of transport, including road, air and off-road vehicles
- Electrification of heating and cooking
- How much flexibility or demand response could moderate peak demand growth and reduce or defer the need for transmission and distribution infrastructure investment.
In parallel, the Queenstown-Lakes District Council and Desitination Queenstown have an ambitious goal to electrify the region and achieve a zero-carbon tourism economy by 2030. This is intended to drive uptake of solar, batteries and the electrification of transport and industry across the region.
Queenstown Flexibility Challenge
In 2024, Ara Ake led the Queenstown Flexibility Challenge to support the efforts of regional leaders in future-proofing Queenstown-Lakes District’s electricity infrastructure. We hosted a workshop with local businesses, electricity industry, council and tourism bodies in October 2024.
Working with these key stakeholders, we looked at both near and long-term opportunities and identified flexibility solutions that have the potential to save or defer millions of dollars’ worth of grid investments to meet regional demand growth.
Queenstown Electrification Accelerator
As a next step, Ara Ake has supported the launch of the Queenstown Electrification Accelerator. Our newest Ara Ake team member Lowri Swygart will be based in Queenstown and work closely with the Rewiring Aotearoa team that is leading this project.
Read all about it here: www.qea.nz
Stakeholders
- Aurora
- Powernet
- Queenstown Lakes District Council
- Queenstown Airport Corporation
Media