Minor changes to the registry

The Electricity Authority intends to make some minor improvements to the Electricity registry. The registry is where information about electrical connections to a network is held and is important for informing network users on what types of installation are present at a connection.

These changes to the registry require an update to the registry functional specification which forms part of the terms and conditions that apply to participants that are granted access to the registry (paragraph 4.2(a)(i) of the terms and conditions in the Registry Access Policy).

Under clause 11.28(3) of the Electricity Industry Participation Code 2010 (the Code) the Authority is required to consult participants that have already been granted access to the registry before amending the terms and conditions. This is the Authority’s consultation on the following proposed changes.

Context

Currently, in some instances, there are not enough entry types in the registry to capture the granularity of data required. Also, more guidance is required on how to complete certain entries. If added, these changes would improve the effectiveness of the registry.

We're proposing three changes:

1) The Authority proposes to add three new entries to the 'fuel type' codes in the Description Table of SD-020 in the registry functional specification on page 418 these being:

• ‘solar + battery’ – solar PV generation and a battery
• ‘wind + battery’ – wind turbine and a battery
• ‘standalone batt’ – battery only, excludes EV batteries in a vehicle to grid configuration.

2) Secondly, as vehicle to grid installations (where an electric vehicle can supply power from its battery back to the network) are increasing in New Zealand, the Authority proposes an additional change to the fuel type codes:

• Change the ‘electric vehicl’ entry to ‘elec vehicl V2G’ with the following description ‘electric vehicle (includes fuel cells) exporting through a vehicle-to-grid configuration’.

Changes 1 and 2 would provide greater visibility of generating types when a battery is present at a connection and clarify that the electric vehicle entry in the SD-020 Table is for electric vehicles that export only.

3) Lastly, the Authority would like to add a tool tip to the ‘Property Name’ entry in the registry, to ensure that this field is only completed when necessary and with the correct information:

• Add a tool tip to the ‘Property Name’ entry in the registry that says This entry should be left blank unless it is absolutely necessary to include information to help identify the location of the ICP. In no instances should address information be added here.

This change would assist registry users to identify the information they need in the registry. Alternatively, the Authority could delete the ‘Property Name’ entry altogether and we seek you views on this option.

In combination, the changes proposed above would provide short-term benefits and could be implemented readily. The Authority may make further, more substantial change to the registry as part of its work on the regulation of distribution networks. However, that work is on a longer implementation path than the short-term changes discussed here.

In response to recent auditor feedback, some distributors may be considering a change to the way they record DG installations with batteries. The Authority asks distributors to continue using their current method for recording these installations, until any registry change comes into effect.