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DID YOU KNOW THAT SMART POWER OFFERS...
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Professional Advice?
Navigating the energy industry can be complex. At Smart Power we are here to make this easy for you. We offer the following support:
* Emissions trading scheme - we can help you collect the data, calculate the emissions and complete the reporting on this information.
* Financial energy and environmental reporting - our utility dashboard helps you budget for utilities and report against your monthly budgets.
* Web based access to financial utility and environmental information - this online service, e-Smart, enables clients to access their most up-to-date reports directly during any month
* Spot market risk analysis - we've developed tools to determine the risks and rewards of different levels of spot market exposure. We'll work with you to advise you on the best level of exposure for your organisation.
* Changes to the energy sector - keeping up with changes in the energy sector can be challenging. We use our knowledge to put together clear and concise briefing papers for our clients which identify the impact of any changes on them.
* Energy budget and forecast mapping - we use our knowledge to help you determine better estimates of future pricing and can forecast expected consumption.
* Hedge accounting services - If you need to know the net present value of the unexpired portion of your electricity hedge (contract for difference), using the expiry date, strike price, settlement Grid Exit Point (GXP) and hedge quantity we can do this for you. We can carry out this calculation for you for a single hedge or a portfolio of hedges so you can make an informed decision on your next step.
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EVER WONDERED ABOUT....
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How a Heat Pump Works?
A heat pump is a device that uses a small amount of energy to move heat from one location to another. Heat pumps are typically used to pull heat out of the air or ground to heat a home or office building, but they can be reversed to cool a building.
There are many different kinds of heat pumps, but they all operate on the same basic principle -- heat transfer. This means that rather than burning fuel to create heat, the device moves heat from one place to another. There's a key to making this all happen -- heat naturally flows downhill. This means that it tends to move from a location with a high temperature to a location with a lower temperature. What a heat pump does is use a small amount of energy to switch that process into reverse, pulling heat out of a relatively low-temperature area, and pumping it into a higher temperature area. One of the most common types of heat pumps is the air-source heat pump. This device takes heat from the air outside your home and pumps it inside through refrigerant-filled coils, not too different from what's on the back of your fridge. The air source variety is pretty basic, and you'll find two fans, the refrigerator coils, a reversing valve and a compressor inside to make it work. Most of the energy for heating comes from the external environment, and only a fraction comes from electricity. In electrically powered heat pumps, the heat transferred can be three or four times larger than the electrical power consumed, giving the system a Coefficient of Performance (COP) of 3 or 4, as opposed to a COP of 1 of a conventional electrical resistance heater, in which all heat is produced from input electrical energy. A new type of heat pump showing promise for extreme climates is the Cold Climate heat pump, which operates efficiently at extremely low temperatures -- even below 0 degrees Fahrenheit (-18 degrees Celsius). The Cold Climate heat pump detects the minimum amount of energy needed to provide the desired level of heating or cooling and adjusts its output up or down, so it never wastes energy. It's an extremely green alternative, but is still in its early stages of implementation because of delays in funding, which slowed research. In 2011, Canada invested $4 million in Cold Climate heat system development. The All-Climate heat pump is yet another new kind of pump, which can operate in temperatures as cold as -30 degrees Fahrenheit (-34 degrees Celsius) and can increase efficiency by up to 60 percent over a standard heat pump [source: EERE]. The All-Climate heat pump is designed primarily for heating, though, and won't work efficiently in climates where the heat pump would be in cooling mode most of the time. |
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Greetings!
Welcome to this edition of "Get Smart", Smart Power's regular bulletin. Get Smart provides a round-up of energy news and views from New Zealand, Australia and around the world.
In "Company Voice" this month, director Anne Herrington offers Christmas wishes to all, and a bit of light reading for a holiday project.
As always your feedback is most welcome. |
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NEW ZEALAND ENERGY HEADLINES
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Climate change a threat to Otago waterways
Irrigators, power companies and mountaineers could all be affected if climate change leads to changes in snow levels.
New research from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) revealed that snow melting off the Southern Alps has a greater impact on North Otago waterways more than anywhere else in the South Island.
An assessment of 20 years of daily temperature and precipitation data from the Virtual Climate Station, showed that of the large rivers that reach the sea, the Waitaki had the highest snowmelt contribution with 12 per cent, while Lake Pukaki had the highest snow-melt inflow of any South Island hydro lake with 18 per cent. Read more
Power saving house plan
A Wellington company has just launched its new generation of energy-efficient, factory-built homes, targeted at the Christchurch re-build, empty nesters and prospective bach owners.
First Light director Ben Jagersma said the houses used less than half the electricity of a typical Kiwi home and could be constructed in just two-to-four weeks.
"The home uses ultra-thick insulation, thermally efficient glazing and has an air-tight building envelope to maintain a comfortable temperature without the need for mechanical heating or cooling throughout most of the country," Jagersma said.
He said they also had solar water collectors on their roofs to save on hot-water heating costs. Read more
Proposed power line buffer zones alarm firms
Proposed "buffer zones" around high-voltage power lines will stifle economic growth and make millions of dollars of land unusable, says a group of Auckland business and property owners.
Government policy dictates that councils should include an "appropriate buffer corridor" around major power lines in their district plans.
The policy statement does not, however, say how large these zones should be.
Auckland Council is addressing the size of these zones in its Unitary Plan, a draft of which is due out in March.
State-owned Transpower, which manages the national electricity grid, is suggesting a buffer zone of 24m - 12 on either side of a line - and said building or renovation projects inside these areas might need resource consents before they could go ahead. The "buffer corridors" were necessary to ensure electricity infrastructure could be operated and maintained properly, Transpower said. Read more
Smelter contract talks resume
New Zealand's largest electricity producer, Meridian Energy, has resumed talks with Rio Tinto Alcan, the majority owner of the Tiwai Pt aluminium smelter, over Rio's request for changes to 18-year power-supply contracts that kick in on January 1.
Meridian chief executive Mark Binns told the company's annual public meeting in Wellington that Rio had recently resumed discussions after Meridian set out what it was and was not prepared to renegotiate. The contracts, signed in 2007, account for about one-seventh of total electricity consumption in New Zealand. Read more
Bills soar but relief due next year
Power bills have jumped more than $100 this year, latest figures show - but Auckland households can expect some reprieve next year.
Figures from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment have found average price rises across the country of $67 due to transmission and lines costs and a further $50 added on by retailers.
The Commerce Commission, which regulates the monopoly-based electricity lines network, has investigated lines companies to find out if prices were in line with their costs.
It has ordered Vector, which connects Auckland City, to cut back its line charges by 10 per cent in April. Residential customers could save about $57 a year. Read more
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AUSTRALIAN ENERGY HEADLINES
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Carbon capture plant opened in central Queensland
A $250 million carbon capture plant has opened in central Queensland near Biloela.
The facility, opened by Australian Energy Minister Martin Ferguson, is the first in the world to be retro-fitted on to an existing power station.
The Callide OxyFuel Project is a joint venture between the Japanese and Australian governments and several industry groups.
It uses a process called oxyfuel, which burns coal with pure oxygen instead of air, which contains 78 per cent nitrogen.
The Australian Coal Association says the technology can reduce carbon emissions from coal-fired electricity plants by up to 90 per cent. Read more
Payments to cut electricity use prove a powerful idea
On A recent Tuesday, about 300 companies at 475 sites across the south and west of Western Australia agreed to cut electricity use for two hours that afternoon - and were paid for doing so.
Demand on WA's wholesale electricity market duly dropped by about 250 megawatts, roughly 6 per cent of capacity.
The demonstration was conducted by energy management company EnerNOC to show it can call on clients to cut demand - with four hours' notice - when needed to help the state's power sector handle demand spikes.
''In WA, demand-side operators are treated the same as a peaking plant,'' said Paul Troughton, EnerNOC's manager for Australia and New Zealand.
Annual payments to participants range from ''thousands of dollars to the hundreds of thousands''. Read more
More homes have electricity disconnected
Up to 23,000 households in NSW had their electricity cut off for failing to pay their bills last year, a new report has found.
The report by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal found there had been a 25 per cent increase in disconnections for non-payment last financial year, up from 18,500 the previous year. The number of gas customers disconnected rose by 15 per cent.
''Bills have been increasing substantially,'' said the chief executive officer of the tribunal, James Cox, who wrote the report, which was released on Monday. ''More people are getting into a position of having a problem meeting the bills''.
But energy retailers rejected a call from the tribunal to do more to help people find alternative means of paying their bills, such as negotiating payment plans. Read more
Coal industry in last-minute push against renewable energy goal
The independent Climate Change Authority is due to reveal its final recommendations on the RET review in a decision likely to be closely watched by the electricity industry.
The authority's draft report in October backed the retention of the current settings even though renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power are on course to exceed the goal of 20 per cent of total generation by 2020, arguing changes to the policy would create uncertainty for investors in the sector.
The Australian Coal Association (ACA), a lobby group representing coal miners, said an assessment prepared by the Centre for International Economics found the RET failed five key measures of policy effectiveness.
ACA Chief Executive Officer, Nikki Williams, said the RET was ineffective in encouraging carbon dioxide abatement, research, development and demonstration (RD&D), enhancing energy security, providing investment certainty, and acting as a supportive policy for the carbon tax. Read more
Next round of electricity price rises ahead Less than a day after the Prime Minister flagged plans to shave $250 off the annual household electricity bill, NSW households are facing a new round of power price rises which will absorb much of the proposed savings. One of the largest electricity suppliers to NSW, the Hong Kong-owned EnergyAustralia, has outlined plans to raise prices by up to 10.5 per cent over the next three years. These are required to support an efficient energy sector. The proposed rises come hard on the heels of increases of up to 20 per cent implemented from July 1, which were sparked largely by the need to upgrade the electricity network, leading to criticism of ''gold plating'', as power companies over spend on the upgrades. The proposed increases to electricity prices also follow gas retailer AGL putting forward plans to hike household gas prices by 10.4 per cent from mid-2013. Read more |
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INTERNATIONAL ENERGY HEADLINES
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India Pursues Massive Nuclear Expansion
The 2011 disaster at Japan's Fukushima plant led many countries to turn away from nuclear power. But a growing population and rising economy has prompted India to massively expand its nuclear program -- even in the face of technological worries and fervent opposition.
The new Kudankulam power plant is intended as only one stage in India's program. Between now and 2032, the government plans to expand the country's nuclear capacity from 4,400 to roughly 63,000 megawatts.
By 2050, India even expects to satisfy a quarter of its electricity demands with nuclear energy. Today, about 20 reactors generate roughly 4 percent of India's electricity, but the country plans to double its nuclear energy capacity in the next five years alone. In doing so, the Indians will rely on particularly controversial reactor types. To make matters worse, many doubt that India can keep the technology under control. Read more
Failed CO2 Targets: Going Through the Motions in Doha
The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Doha is turning into a farce. While negotiators are sticking to the goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, even climatologists admit that the project has failed.
Protecting the climate is incredibly important to Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, as evidenced by all the resolutions it has adopted in the past to save the planet. Germany has climate funds and reduction targets, building and transportation programs, and even an entire strategy to wean itself off nuclear power and shift to green energy, which has been dubbed the Energiewende, or "energy revolution."
On the other hand, the Bundestag found an interesting solution to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the elegant limousines normally used to chauffeur German lawmakers - they simply raised the previously established limit of 120 grams of CO2 per kilometer to 140.
Things have changed, so much so that the Bundestag's decision hardly attracted any notice in the press, and neither did the government's decision to eliminate a rule requiring official trips to be climate-neutral. As mundane as these decisions seem, they symbolize a significant failure, namely that no issue of global urgency has tanked quite as quickly as the warming of the earth's climate. Read more
Spain Expands Renewables With Wave-Powered Electricity Plant Waves constantly thrash the fishing village of Mutriku on Spain's northern coast. Records from the 13th century describe the dangerous surf and shipwrecks here. Until recently, water occasionally hurled debris through windows of homes, before the local government built a cement breakwater to shelter the harbor. Now, this town's few thousand residents have a small beach that's protected from raucous waves that roll in off the Bay of Biscay. They can stroll down a pier and out over the breakwater. And hidden underneath their feet, Spanish scientists like Gloria Etxebarria are busy generating electricity from these powerful waves. "The government decided to build a breakwater to protect the harbor of Mutriku. And so making use of that decision, we decided to put there our wave energy plant," Etxebarria says. She is a renewable energy technician who specializes in marine power - electricity generated from tides or waves. It's a relatively young industry that Spain is exploring after investing heavily in solar and wind power for decades. Read more Wind farms will save households hundreds of pounds The cost of low carbon technology, including nuclear, will have added £100 to bills by 2020 and £200 by 2050, according to the Committee on Climate Change. However the cost of relying on gas could push up energy bills by £600 by 2050. In a release timed to coincide with an expected announcement on shale gas, the Committee on Climate Change pointed out that the price of fossil fuels is expected to go up. At the best estimates, shale gas will provide just ten per cent of current demand for gas by 2030. Therefore the UK will have to rely mostly on foreign imports from Europe and the Middle East, where the price is expected to rise sharply in the next few decades. Read more 'Solar sisters' spreading light in Africa Eva Walusimbi knows well how it is to live in darkness. As a community leader in the small town of Mityana, central Uganda, she's been witnessing the health hazards and financial strains that a shortage of electricity can bring to people living in energy poor, rural areas. "Just three miles away from here, people in the villages don't have electricity -- some of them use candles, some use kerosene lamps," says Walusimbi, who runs schools for orphans and disadvantaged children in Uganda. In Uganda, some 90% of the population lives without access to electricity, according to World Bank figures. Apart from the health risks, Walusimbi, 50, says that lack of electricity is also preventing people from escaping poverty. "People that are living without electricity, their day ends up so quickly -- they can do less work compared to the people with full light," she says. But for Walusimbi, there is light at the end of the tunnel. She has joined Solar Sister, a group aiming to eradicate energy poverty while creating economic opportunities for women. Using an Avon-style women's distribution system, Solar Sister trains, recruits and supports female entrepreneurs in East Africa to sell affordable solar lighting and other green products such as solar lamps and mobile phone chargers. The women use their community networks of family and neighbors to build their own businesses, earning a commission on each sale. Solar Sister founder Katherine Lucey, a former investment banker with expertise in the energy sector, says this model is creating access to safe, affordable and clean energy while helping women to earn a steady income to support their families. Read more |
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THE COMPANY VOICE
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Anne Herrington is a founding partner of Smart Power and as such has been with the company since 1993. Prior to that she worked in the early development of the wholesale market with the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand (ECNZ).
Anne has a Diploma in Energy Management and extensive experience in the New Zealand energy market and energy pricing sectors. As well as advising Smart Power customers on energy pricing issues (wholesale market products, spot market exposure etc) and general energy management, she was a consumer representative on the Electricity Commission's retail advisory group.
Anne has also been a member of, or chaired, other advisory groups for the Commission. Anne's detailed knowledge of the electricity market is invaluable when producing submissions on industry issues for our clients.
"Well it's that time of year again. Here at Smart Power we are only just beginning to feel Christmassy as its been the usual mad rush to 'get everything done' before we go off for a well-earned break. Our office is officially closed from Lunchtime on the 21st of December until Monday the 7th of January but we will of course do whatever it takes to make sure that our bill payment and other important services continue uninterrupted and the Directors will have their cell phones on them if there is anything urgent you require during that time. To all our customers, industry colleagues, suppliers and others who have helped us during the year we really do appreciate your custom, help and input and look forward to working with you again in the new year. So I'd like to take this opportunity on behalf of all of the Smart Power team to wish you and your families a great Christmas and New Year. We hope that you are able to take a decent break and some time out to recharge the batteries for the coming year. If you are looking for something to keep the grey matter ticking over during the holiday break have a bit of a think about a project that I'm putting together in January. It relates to the Electricity Authority's review of Transpower's pricing methodology. It is a major overhaul and the EA's intention is to put something in place that will not then be altered in any substantial way in the foreseeable future. Transpower's pricing affects all customers and as with any change in pricing methodology there will be winners and losers so Smart Power intends to work with our customers to make sure; * That the EA is fully aware of how the changes would affect different types of customers in the 'real world'. * To argue against changes that will adversely affect our customers. * To support changes that will be beneficial and * To make sure the EA is aware of how affected consumers can be expected to react to pricing signals. We are concerned that the EA will be inundated with submissions from well-resourced industry participants lobbying for their own interests and so I believe it is vital that they hear the voice of consumers as well. As the document is 172 pages long and there are also numerous appendices along with a number of fairly technical economic arguments it will be difficult for individual customers to put together a submission so we are looking at ways of getting a group to work together as we have done in the past. We saw the impact that customer representation can have when we submitted (along with other customers) on the UTS. In that case I believe that customer submissions had a considerable impact changing it from an academic exercise to one where the dollars impact became quite real to the EA. So we are aiming to have the same impact again. Now that you have something to get on with over the break I'll sign off and if you are looking for any fun reading while on the beach or at the bach the full papers are available on the EA website. Have a fantastic Christmas and New year."
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This newsletter was provided by:
Smart Power
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