Queenstown-Lakes has a clear and ambitious goal of a thriving, carbon-zero visitor economy by 2030. That's the vision at the heart of Travel to a Thriving Future, the district's Destination Management Plan. It’s a vision that depends, in a very practical way, on the electricity network that powers every home and business in the region.
As the lines company responsible for the long-term stewardship of that network, our team at Aurora Energy is focused on making sure it can support the energy choices that the district needs to ensure this vision comes to life.
This commitment is not without its challenges. Queenstown-Lakes is one of the fastest-growing places in Aotearoa New Zealand, and that growth is showing up in how much electricity the region needs, especially during times of peak demand – like the middle of winter.
Modelling commissioned through the Energising Queenstown initiative shows that the transmission line supplying the Whakatipu basin could reach its capacity limit somewhere in the early 2030s. While we’ve strengthened the local distribution network by upgrading our Queenstown substation and undertaking other projects to set the network up for future growth, it’s likely more power from the national transmission grid is also needed to meet the ongoing growth in demand for clean energy.
Building a new transmission line - which will almost certainly be part of the long-term answer – at best takes at least five years to plan, consent, and construct.
That’s where the need to get more flexible comes in.
Technologies like rooftop solar, small and large-scale battery storage, smart EV charging, and hot water control – sometimes called distributed energy resources, or DER - are becoming a meaningful part of how lines companies around the country are managing the energy transition.
Distributed energy resources are also key to how Queenstown-Lakes builds the lower-carbon energy system the Destination Management Plan depends on. The investment that households and businesses are making in EVs, solar and batteries is key to decarbonising the local economy, as well as key to building in redundancies that support residents and visitors alike if disaster strikes.
A coordinated uptake of flexible energy across the Queenstown-Lakes network, with solar panels and batteries in homes and businesses working alongside smarter management of when electricity is used, could make a material difference to when major infrastructure investment is needed. For example, our forecasting, which draws on 28 years of Queenstown solar and demand data, shows that rooftop solar and battery storage, at the right scale, if in place and managed well, could defer the need for a new transmission line by two to four years.
Technologies like rooftop solar, small and large-scale battery storage, smart EV charging, and hot water control – sometimes called distributed energy resources, or DER - are becoming a meaningful part of how lines companies around the country are managing the energy transition.
Distributed energy resources are also key to how Queenstown-Lakes builds the lower-carbon energy system the Destination Management Plan depends on. The investment that households and businesses are making in EVs, solar and batteries is key to decarbonising the local economy, as well as key to building in redundancies that support residents and visitors alike if disaster strikes.
A coordinated uptake of flexible energy across the Queenstown-Lakes network, with solar panels and batteries in homes and businesses working alongside smarter management of when electricity is used, could make a material difference to when major infrastructure investment is needed. For example, our forecasting, which draws on 28 years of Queenstown solar and demand data, shows that rooftop solar and battery storage, at the right scale, if in place and managed well, could defer the need for a new transmission line by two to four years.
