Authority identifies two more high-value initiatives for Power Innovation Pathway support

Two more initiatives will receive enhanced regulatory support via the Authority's Power Innovation Pathway (the Pathway), to help unlock innovation in New Zealand’s electricity sector and improve long-term outcomes for consumers.

The two initiatives are:

• Franklin Energy Sharing pilot (Climate Connect Aotearoa/Ara Ake/Counties Energy) – to demonstrate a new approach to peer-to-peer energy trading, enabling excess solar on the network to be donated to local charities to support whānau experiencing hardship.

• Queenstown Electrification Accelerator (Rewiring Aotearoa/Ara Ake) – to showcase how an electrified energy system can save consumers money by using smart demand-side flexibility to defer network and transmission investment whilst providing regional energy resilience.

Mark Herring, General Manager Corporate and Market Services says the Pathway provides direct support to high-value opportunities for scalable new business models, products and services that can deliver significant benefits for electricity consumers.

“These two initiatives have an ambitious approach to empowering households, businesses and communities to generate, share and manage their electricity,” says Herring.

“Supporting energy innovation is critical in this fast-evolving environment. By working alongside innovators, we can better understand the barriers that may hinder others to innovate.”

“Applying these insights to our work programme will help shape the rules for all and enable a system that provides the energy needed to power New Zealand’s future,” he says.

The Authority is providing enhanced support to a total of eight initiatives in its first tranche of the Power Innovation Pathway, to help bring new consumer-focused solutions to market faster and enable more effective and adaptive regulation.

The Pathway remains open and we encourage engagement from energy innovators looking to navigate the regulatory landscape and bring transformative solutions to market.