AWARDS FINALIST: Moonis Vegdani – Counties Energy

Moonis Vegdani, chief strategy and transformation officer at Counties Energy, has achieved significant success in a short time.  

After joining the business in 2019 as head of technology and product, he was promoted to group chief digital officer in 2021, and to his current role a year later. 

The company says that in this role – in which he manages a team of 28 – he has shored-up the organisation’s internal capabilities in preparation for strategic changes within the sector and unlocked new venture opportunities.  

Along the way, he has built strong working relationships locally within the Northern Energy Group and Ara Ake – as part of the EDB Challenge – and, further afield, with electricity distribution businesses and innovators such as Plexigrid in Europe and Relectrify in Australia.  

In a first for an Australian and a New Zealand distribution company, he secured an information sharing relationship with South Australia Power Networks under a strategic memorandum of understanding. 

OpenLoop 

One of Vegdani’s key achievements is in the eMobility market, with the development, launch and ongoing operation of EV charging service OpenLoop.  

Vegdani’s research identified the need for an open EV charging ecosystem at a time when the market was largely operated by one player. He developed the product in New Zealand, from scratch, using local talent to drive change in the market – all against a backdrop of continuing disruption due to Covid.  

EMobility is a sector he is passionate about, recently becoming a board member of Drive Electric, which represents the EV industry in NZ. 

DSO strategy 

A key focus for Vegdani is leading development and execution of Counties’ distribution system operator (DSO) capabilities. 

The DSO strategy is how the company will manage multi-directional energy flow, resulting from the increasing penetration of distributed energy resources such as solar, wind, battery storage and EVs, through active energy orchestration.  

Two years into a 10-year strategy, Counties is one of the country’s leading distributors working to futureproof its network and unlock shared value for its customers and communities.  

Key milestones 

A milestone within Vegdani’s transformation portfolio has been the delivery of the multi-million Advanced Distribution Management System platform, with Vegdani as steering committee lead. 

The platform’s implementation will drive greater reliability, resilience, and flexibility for network assets through richer multi-source data. Counties will have a single platform to safely interact with its network, control work, and share information in real-time. 

Vegdani’s team also built onshore capability to manage the end-to-end assembly of second-life battery systems, deployed to provide capacity for high-powered EV chargers at the Mercer Service Centre.  

Counties partnered with Relectrify to take the project from a paper-based concept to an infrastructure-grade application.  

Separately, Vegdani led a project with OpenLoop, Plexigrid and Ara Ake to develop active network management capabilities and accelerate development of Counties’ DSO capabilities. 

Leadership 

Vegdani is driven by his passion for strategy, technology, and innovation. He has played a key role in cultivating a culture of innovation and transformation within Counties Energy and he encourages his team to dream big, think beyond conventional limits, and to set ambitious goals. 

As part of the group’s growth strategy, Vegdani works closely with the board and the chief executive to explore new strategic growth opportunities. 

The Young Energy Professional award category is sponsored by Phoenix Recycling Group.