Common quality and wholesale market arrangements for BESS and BESS-hybrids

BESS‑hybrid systems combine battery energy storage systems (BESS) with generation assets (such as wind or solar) at a single connection point. This allows electricity to be stored, managed, and dispatched more flexibly. BESSs and BESS‑hybrid stations will play an increasingly important role in managing variable and intermittent generation. To unlock these benefits, regulatory settings for BESSs and BESS-hybrids must be fit for purpose.

We are seeking feedback on issues and options in three areas:

• Part 8 common quality requirements for BESS-hybrid stations and idle BESS
• Part 8 common quality requirements for voltage support obligations for transmission-connected generation, including potential to move the point of compliance to the network connection point
• Part 13 trading arrangements for BESS-hybrid stations

Addressing the issues identified in the paper is expected to improve the reliability of our power system and support lower electricity costs for consumers. This will be achieved by enabling efficient use of BESS and BESS-hybrid systems and removing barriers to investment.

A Code amendment consultation paper following the issues and options paper will be published later in 2026.

We welcome your feedback by 5pm, 30 June 2026.

We welcome the opportunity to discuss this consultation with you:

• Webinar: Join our online session on Thursday 11 June 2026, 10.30am–12.00pm to learn more about the BESS consultations, explore the key issues and ask questions. Register for the webinar
• One-on-one briefings: We are also available to meet with you. To request a briefing, email OperationsConsult@ea.govt.nz with ‘BESS EOI’ in the subject line by 5pm, Tuesday 23 June.

We encourage interested parties to consider the following related consultation and discussion paper when providing feedback.

Wholesale market arrangements for BESSs consultation

We are proposing Code amendments to improve wholesale market arrangements for utility-scale BESSs. The existing bid and offer requirements and the tools used to schedule and dispatch market participants’ offers and bids currently limit the flexibility that BESSs can offer the market and may also result in inconsistent market dispatch.

View consultation and have your say

5-minute settlement period discussion paper

We have released a 5-minute settlement discussion paper on the costs and benefits of moving to a five-minute settlement period. We considered whether this would better align settlement with the capabilities of fast‑responding technologies such as BESSs. The Authority’s current view is that market conditions do not support a transition to five‑minute settlement at this stage.

This discussion paper is not a formal consultation, however we welcome feedback on it to OperationsConsult@ea.govt.nz by 5pm, 30 June 2026.