Kiwi households and businesses are using more electricity year after year as new exciting technologies and useful tools become increasingly commonplace in our daily lives. As a result, electricity demand is increasing which needs more power generation (such wind, solar, and geothermal energy) and a national grid that can continue moving it to towns, homes and businesses 24/7.
Behind the scenes, electricity itself is undergoing substantial change, with renewable energy playing a bigger role in creating the electrons that make their way around the country and power our lives and the economy. The uptake of rooftop solar, batteries and electric vehicles are also creating new opportunities and complexities for Transpower in its role managing the power system.
Te Kanapu Future Grid
For New Zealand to fully capture the benefits of becoming more electrified, Transpower has launched Te Kanapu, a new initiative to guide strategic discussions across the electricity sector and with key stakeholders to inform its planning for its national electricity transmission grid investments to 2050 and beyond.
Building from our Whakamana i te Mauri Hiko research in 2020 that highlighted the opportunity for electrification, Te Kanapu sets out to identify what work Transpower must do on our national grid to bring that opportunity to life. It envisions a range of possible scenarios and asks what the grid will need to look like to enable the reliable and affordable electricity supply necessary for a thriving, net zero economy by 2050.
Te Kanapu will deliver a 'Grid Blueprint' that - through providing a guide for our investments through to 2050 and beyond - will give those who plan to generate, move, buy and sell electricity better information, and enable the energy industry to coordinate and optimise their own plans.
At its core, Te Kanapu is about ensuring the transmission network supports Aotearoa New Zealand to thrive and grow as it electrifies.
For more information about Te Kanapu, please read our positioning paper.
What's to come
We'll be developing the Grid Blueprint over 2025 and 2026, with a focus on wide engagement and developing a clear evidence base for investment guided by new scenario modelling. To subscribe for updates or email your feedback, please use the link or form below.