Report highlights lack of government vision with emerging energy technologies

Media Release - 22 June 2016 - For immediate use

SEANZ (Sustainable Electricity Association New Zealand) supports the call issued today for further changes to pricing signals consumers receive from power companies for their electricity that impact emerging technologies in the electricity and transport sectors.

The warning was issued in the report by Concept Consulting “Electric cars, solar panels, and batteries in New Zealand; Vol 2: The benefits and costs to consumers and society” and finds that “technologies of “tomorrow” are emerging within “yesterday’s” industry arrangements”.

Brendan Winitana, SEANZ Chairman said “Anyone spending over $40,000 on a brand new vehicle should be considering an Electric Vehicle (EV)”. “This report shows that the low price of carbon and lack of electricity pricing plans around charging means that the economics of EV’s is marginal and when we consider how long it takes to turn-over New Zealand's vehicle fleet and how many people are in a position to purchase a new EV, a lot more needs to be done to encourage their uptake”.

This report also highlights that poor pricing signals are a problem with the integration of Solar PV into the electricity network. “The figure involved in investing in Solar PV is considerably less than an EV and so the number of people who install Solar PV continues to grow and we need to ensure that this is a net benefit to all consumers and to the country as a whole”. “A report just released by University of Canterbury’s Electric Power Engineering Centre (EPEC) shows that the steady rise in the number of people installing Solar PV is about to balloon in the next two to three years due to continually reducing prices”. The cost of an average Solar PV installation will fall on average from around $9,500 to $7,600 and as an industry and as a country we need to be prepared for that” said Mr Winitana.

“Households with Solar PV need better pricing signals for grid supplied power to shift their loads from peak times to during the day when the sun is shining”. “Load shifting using Solar PV and related load shift technology, along with storage using residential or EV batteries when economic, will ensure network operators are getting the right feedback about requirements for the future network and ensure they make investment decisions which will benefit consumers and the country as a whole” Mr Winitana said.

“Pricing signals are one thing, as there are significant non-monetary related values driving the rapid uptake of new technologies like Solar PV also”. “Although this report has only taken into account the financial value of investment of new technologies we need to be aware that a net present value calculation only tells part of the story and regardless of the economics consumers already do and will continue to make the choices that suit them best which is their right and we need to be able to accommodate them” said Mr Winitana.

“If we are to achieve our greenhouse gas reduction targets and not impose a high economic cost on society we need a plan to embrace technologies which can lower our emissions and lower the costs for average kiwi households and EVs, Solar PV, and batteries all have an important role in this” Mr Winitana concluded.

ENDS

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