NEWS
GREMLINS IN
THE SYSTEM
A recent issue of NZFT was found to
have gremlins creep into the system
which meant some items went to
print not as intended.
Unique Services had a company
listing in the NZFT 2020 annual
whereas the entire listing should not
have gone to print.
Also, the recent edition refers to a
director of Westland Co-operative
Dairy Company Limited. Siince the
acquisition by Jingang, a wholly
owned subsidiary of Inner Mongolia
Yili Industrial Group Co., Limited,
of Westland Co-operative Dairy
Company Limited, the company
name changed to Westland Dairy
Company Limited, and Bob Major is
no longer a director of the company.
We apologise for any misgivings,
inconvenience and whole-heartedly
inform that the copy was not in any
way meant in malice.
FTR423
38 FEBRUARY 2020
AFFORDABLE ENERGY STORAGE LACKING
BusinessNZ Energy Council
executive director Tina Schirr
welcomes the release of the
World Energy Council’s (WEC)
Innovation Insights Brief - Five
Steps to Energy Storage.
The brief suggests mainstream
storage technologies are likely
insufficient to meet future
flexibility requirements resulting
from further decentralisation and
decarbonisation efforts.
A narrow focus on lithiumion
batteries is putting the
development of more costeffective
alternative technologies
at risk, WEC discovered after
interviewing energy leaders from
17 countries.
"With major decarbonising
efforts to remove thermal electric
power generation and scale up
renewable energies, the adoption
of energy storage is a key focus
the world and for New Zealand,"
Ms Schirr says.
"However, the brief shows
affordable storage systems are
a crucial missing link between
intermittent renewable power and
24/7 reliability net-zero carbon
scenario."
Ms Schirr says while there is
visionary thinking in terms of
energy storage, recent progress
has focused on short-duration
and battery-based energy
storage for efficiency gains and
ancillary services. Meanwhile,
there has been limited progress in
developing daily, weekly and even
seasonal cost-effective solutions.
Ms Schirr says energy storage
presents an opportunity for
collaboration between sectors
like mobility and industry and
clean electricity. Different vectors
of energy can be used, including
heat, electricity and hydrogen.
"Breaking down these silos was
also one of the key takeaways
of our BEC2060 project that
investigated two possible
outcomes for New Zealand’s
energy future."
Ms Schirr says the energy sector
must adopt more aggressively
technologies aligned with the
end-goal: affordable clean
energy for all.
Relying on investments by
adjacent sectors such as the
automotive sector is not enough.
Future-proofing our energy
systems means considering
alternative solutions and
ensuring technologies have
equal market opportunities, Ms
Schirr says.
WEC’s recommends five steps to
energy storage:
1. Enable a level playing field;
2. Engage stakeholders in a
conversation;
3. Capture the full potential value
provided by energy storage;
4. Assess and adopt enabling
mechanisms; and
5. Share information and
promote research and
development.