Counties Energy enables community energy sharing pilot with Ara Ake and Climate Connect Aotearoa
A new community-focused initiative from Counties Energy, Ara Ake and Climate Connect Aotearoa has been selected by the Electricity Authority to participate in an ‘open front door’ innovation pathway programme set up by the electricity regulator. Called the Franklin Energy Sharing Pilot, it aims to combine renewable energy generation, community battery storage and energy-sharing methodology to support the distribution of power to local Franklin charities.
The initiative will create a model that will allow homes and businesses to gift electricity to local charity organisations to access clean, affordable power, helping to ease financial pressures while supporting sustainability through renewable energy. The pilot will demonstrate how electricity produced by solar panels installed at the Counties Energy site in Glasgow Rd in Pukekohe, and stored in a battery on site, can be provided to three local charities. The recipient charities include Mai Lighthouse (formerly Franklin Family Support Services), Whaanau Resource Centre O Pukekohe Charitable Trust, and the Waiuku Family Support Network. The vision is for this model to be available to homes and businesses wishing to gift electricity to those in the community that are seeking support easily, without having to switch retailers.
The Franklin Energy Sharing Project was one of the successful projects selected to participate in the Power Innovation Pathway (PIP), out of a number of applicants from a diverse group of innovators, electricity market participants, businesses, individuals, the public sector and community organisations.
Counties Energy Group Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, Moonis Vegdani says the project is both an important community initiative and a demonstration of innovative collaboration in the sector to enable new customer-focused outcomes.
“The project shows how innovation can increase the uptake of distributed renewable electricity sources within households at all income levels, and contribute to building a smart, resilient and affordable energy system of the future that offers more energy choice to customers.
“Counties Energy is 100% consumer-owned – we have been serving our community for over a century – so it is immensely important to us that our innovations support the community we serve,” he says.
“The intent is to demonstrate the viability of renewable energy, paired with a community battery, to encourage individuals and companies to gift excess solar that they generate to help those in energy hardship. We’re starting with ourselves, and hope to grow the project from there.”
The intention behind the PIP is to bring fresh ideas to market faster, by enabling in-market trials, Electricity Industry Participation Code support, advice and collaboration.
Successful projects were recognised for their ability to deliver significant benefits to electricity consumers and deepen the Electricity Authority’s understanding of market barriers and opportunities so that it can regulate more effectively.
The Franklin Energy Sharing Project is an innovative way for people and businesses generating their own solar electricity to trade or gift energy with other members within the community who do not have direct access to the benefits of rooftop solar or other small-scale renewable generation sources.
It is essentially bringing to life a peer-to-peer or customer-to-customer trading of electricity value, which has not been possible due to regulations that prevent it unless the two customers sharing energy have the same primary retailer.
Ara Ake Senior Energy Innovation Manager Briony Bennett says the model will add greater flexibility of generation to the network and encourage the use of locally generated energy where and when it is generated.
“If the project can be implemented at a greater scale, it will enable communities, organisations and businesses around Aotearoa to trade and share electricity and get greater value out of an investment in distributed energy resources, like solar and batteries,” she says.
“It will also open up further opportunities to new business models, such as virtual power plants or community-owned energy networks.”
The pilot’s designers are hoping to see more customers take an active role in generating and sharing the benefits of solar electricity, adding much needed supply into the system and empowering individuals and communities to take control of their electricity costs.
Climate Connect Aotearoa Programme Director Sarah Anderson says the Pilot exemplifies how collaborative innovation can deliver both climate and community benefits.
“By enabling sharing of energy produced through small-scale renewable energy generation, we’re not just supporting climate action but also creating tangible community benefits. This collaborative innovation represents exactly the kind of practical approach needed to build a climate-resilient and sustainable future for the Franklin region and its people.”