Transpower mulls bigger battery needs

National grid operator Transpower says the way that electricity is delivered to end users will have changed dramatically by 2040, with widespread uptake of ‘extensive storage’ batteries flattening demand through out the day.

These changes are outlined in its Transmission Tomorrow report, which gives a long-term view over the next 25 years.

Transpower’s report follows an Electricity Authority final consultation paper looking at changing power pricing methodology to account for changing usage patters. Its’ proposal involves a regime “based on actual service and cost.”

Electric vehicle use will have dramatically increased by 2020, becoming a “maturing and more mainstream adoption” plug-in private cars which, when teamed with solar arrays, home and network batteries and automated power management for homes will see New Zealand enter a “changing load” state.

Customers by this point will be electing to go off grid, but most households will find it easier to keep the connection.

More consumers may choose to go ‘off-grid’ although connection will remain “an attractive proposition for the vast majority of people.”