Counties Energy shares energy innovation at conference
This September, Counties Energy was pleased to contribute to the Electrical Engineers’ Association’s annual conference by sharing insights into several of our innovative projects.
With over 1,000 representatives from the energy sector present over the three-day event, the conference fostered an opportunity to discuss how to best support New Zealand’s transition to a more sustainable, resilient, and customer-centric energy system.
Four of our engineers showcased some of the projects being conducted by Counties Energy on topics as diverse as electric vehicle (EV) charging, asset management, aerial asset inspections, and distributed energy resource integration.
Understanding the Impact of EV Chargers Using Smart Meter Data – Adrian Nadan
The growing frequency of EV charging has begun to raise new challenges for energy network operators. If this additional demand is left unmanaged, it has the potential to increase loads on the network at peak times, potentially overloading existing infrastructure, resulting in network issues and impacting customer experience.
Our team worked with Gridsight to conduct a study across parts of the Counties Energy network to investigate the rate of EV uptake, customer charging behaviour, and the resulting impact on network assets. Data was gathered from 7 kW residential EV chargers and 30-minute smart meter consumption (kWh) to give insights into low voltage and medium voltage levels.
The study confirmed that the rate of EV uptake is increasing at a moderate pace and impacting peak network demands. It also identified the beginning of a secondary peak, typically around 9pm, from EV charging.
The research showed that being able to manage EV charging loads at a network level can allow for better flexibility through peak shaving and load shifting. Next steps for the Counties Energy team include exploring year on year trends and additional data sources to gain more granular level information and improve asset management planning.
Distribution System Operator & Plexigrid – Astad Kapadia
The Counties Energy team is also involved in a long-term research project alongside Plexigrid (European software innovator), Preformed Line Products (PLP, a local electrical engineering and manufacturing firm), and Network Edge (consulting firm that provides energy transition services).
The Plexigrid study focuses on gaining a better understanding into how distributed energy resources (DERs) such as EV chargers, solar panels and batteries, will impact the network. Co-funded by Ara Ake, the trial explores how we can effectively support and integrate the growing number of DERs into our energy network. The trial involves 500 ICPs, capturing data from smart metering and smart EV chargers and with a 300 kVA average distribution transformer capacity.
Results from the trial are expected to assist us to develop better models and scenario analyses to understand and manage changing customer needs. It will also open the way to the development of a DER management system (DERMS) to orchestrate peak and energy demand in a smarter, more efficient way.
By integrating advanced data and DERMS solutions, Counties Energy will be well placed to optimise the network for future energy demands. As such, it is a critical project and part of our strategic transition to a Distribution System Operator (DSO) model.
The early stages of the trial have already delivered several useful insights, and these will be used to further refine our efforts in coming years.
Asset Risk Management Model – Chris Knight
The Asset Risk Management Model (ARMM), developed in conjunction with Network Edge, focuses on using asset and condition data from inspections, LiDAR2 and UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle or drone) surveys, to forecast infrastructure health and evaluate different investment scenarios.
The model is critical for our future planning and will help to keep our network resilient and ready for our reimagined energy future. The model is required for Counties Energy’s Asset Management Plan1 and helps give us the visibility we need to maintain our network’s reliability for the future.
Founded on ISO 550003, the study integrates analytical techniques and dashboards, condition scoring, intervention feedback and financial scenario modelling to give insights into the evolving energy landscape. It also provides configurable rules-based scenario planners that use the underlying calculations of risk, criticality, remaining useful life and surveyed asset condition to evaluate and identify opportunities for proactive maintenance, ultimately reducing downtime and enhancing reliability.
The project has already enabled Counties Energy to make quicker calculations and comparisons of multiple investment scenarios. The team expects to continue refining and adding functionality in the future.
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1 Asset Management Plan: Usually a ten-year plan that sets out how an EDB like Counties Energy will manage its assets to allow for growth and technological advances to manage its network. It includes service and performance targets, the rationale supporting investment and operational decisions, and risk management.
2 LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging): Laser ranging, and aerial photography used to measure the distance between vegetation and power lines for targeted tree trimming to prevent outages.
3 ISO 55000 Standard: provides terminology, requirements, and guidance for implementing, maintaining, and improving an effective asset management system (source: Institute of Asset Management).
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The Journey of Aerial Asset Inspections – Aaron Radford
Working alongside local company Preformed Line Products, the Counties Energy team has embarked on a two-year project to gather asset health information for the entire 11kV and 22 kV overhead network, made up of around 12,500 poles and conductors.
Counties Energy has maintained a five-year ground-based inspection cycle for many years. However, this programme is primarily focused on identifying defects, rather than recording the overall health of network assets. Accurate health information is needed to inform Counties Energy’s risk management model and prioritise replacement and maintenance programmes.
The new inspections were conducted aerially, using a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle or drone) equipped with high-resolution and infrared cameras. The high quality, detailed photos captured have been used to form a series of reports that give a comprehensive view of the network’s health.
This information will help the Counties Energy team plan corrective actions and future maintenance and renewal projects. The team will also be able to proactively identify risks and emerging faults, remediating them before they cause outages. If an outage does occur, being able to refer to the footage will help give teams an indication of the likely fault cause, aiding in prevention of similar faults in the future.