Winter Peak Innovation Pilot
The Winter Peak Innovation Pilot sought to demonstrate that distributed energy resources in the form of residential solar batteries can be dispatched into the electricity market to address winter peak events where the forecast capacity residual is tight.
About
In May 2023, Ara Ake teamed up with SolarZero to explore how solar batteries and smart technology could help manage electricity supply shortages during peak demand periods over winter. The collaboration also involved the Electricity Authority and Transpower as the System Operator.
Read the learnings and insights report from this pilot
Solution
Managing peak demand and supply on cold winter days is becoming more challenging as demand increases and there is more variable generation such as wind and solar. Coordinating distributed energy resources, particularly household batteries, offers a potential solution.
SolarZero developed a large residential VPP in New Zealand and during winter 2023, they coordinated over 10,000 residential solar and battery systems with a combined capacity of approximately 30MW. Through the Winter Peak Innovation Initiative, SolarZero demonstrated that its VPP could be dispatched using existing systems during winter peak periods when available capacity was critically low. Since the System Operator flags concerns when available capacity drops below 200 MW, the additional 30 MW provided by SolarZero in winter 2023 proved valuable.
Impact Unlocked
In addition to offering flexible capacity to manage winter peaks in New Zealand, a VPP can help reduce CO2 emissions. For example, if a 30 MW VPP offsets coal-fired power generation (with an emission rate of 800 kg/MWh), each use of this winter peak product could save approximately 48 tonnes of CO2.
Ara Ake has been pivotal with this project in two key areas. First, it served as a facilitator with Transpower and the Electricity Authority, helping to navigate both the requirements outlined in the Electricity Code and the technical specifications of the dispatch system.
The parties were collectively undertaking something unprecedented, and assistance from Ara Ake in guiding all parties through the regulatory and technical landscape, while capturing valuable learnings along the way, was essential. Second, Ara Ake support signalled strong commitment to the project and accelerated its progress.
Media releases
