Innovation in Energy Award
This award recognises a breakthrough innovation that is creating significant value for customers, communities, organisations, or the wider energy sector.
Sponsored by
Contact Energy
Virtual Power Plant
finalist
Innovation in Energy Award
New Zealand Energy Excellence Awards 2018
Contact Energy and its partners are linking households in Wellington, Christchurch, Palmerston North and Auckland to turn them into a Virtual Power Plant, using a unique technology platform developed specifically for the project by Contact. Households with solar PV, battery or hot water diversion equipment are able to flexibly respond to signals to feed clean energy into the grid or switch themselves off to help manage demand peaks, while also helping homes become more resilient to natural disasters. At scale, the VPP can replace the role of a thermal peaking power station, helping accelerate the decarbonisation of the energy sector.