NZ's electricity networks examined during conference
26 January 2011
The future of New Zealand's electricity networks and the technology behind our power was one of the topics discussed at the 20th Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference (AUPEC) held at the University of Canterbury recently.
(From left) EPECentre Director Joseph Lawrence; Chief Executive of Transpower NZ Dr Patrick Strange; Associate Professor Sarath Perera from the University of Wollongong; AUPEC 2010 Chair Associate Professor Richard Duke; and AUPEC 2010 Co-Chair Professor Pat Bodger.
The future of New Zealand's electricity networks and the technology behind our power was one of the topics discussed at the 20th Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference (AUPEC) held at the University of Canterbury recently.
"AUPEC is Australasia's premier international power engineering research conference and it is only the second time it has ever been hosted in New Zealand," said Joseph Lawrence Electric Power Engineering Centre (EPECentre) Director.
"The first time was in 2003, again hosted by the EPECentre and UC's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. The conference attracted around 170 participants and over 35 Universities internationally and turned out to be a great international success."
Dr Patrick Strange, Chief Executive of Transpower, gave the first keynote address on transmission challenges and spoke of the bright outlook for electrical engineers.
"Transmission challenges are common for most countries in the world. We need to produce more energy to meet all of our needs. The answer to that lies with technology, so it is an exciting time for electrical engineers as such technology develops," said Dr Strange.
He said New Zealand sits between a very dry hot country, Australia, and a cold wet continent, Antarctica, which gives no opportunity for interconnectivity. This means New Zealand will have to meet all its own energy needs.
To determine future energy demands, planners can estimate energy needs by graphing or plotting it alongside New Zealand's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which shows a very similar trend. Dr Strange showed the comparison between the two over 100 years. New Zealand's GDP being regional is uncertain, said Dr Strange.
"But what is certain is that Auckland will keep getting bigger and use more electricity that can be supplied," he said.
"And, to meet the anticipated demands, a solution is for New Zealand is better technology. We need long-term investment in large scale remote generation. Due to New Zealand's size, economies of scale point to remote generation that requires a grid along the backbone of the country."
Dr Strange also discussed the need for more grid technology, more integration between the grid and generation, two-way interaction with customers and DC technology.
The conference was officially opened by Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Engineering) Professor Jan Evans-Freeman, with a second opening keynote by Associate Professor Sarath Perera (Technical Director of the Integral Energy Power Quality Centre at the University of Wollongong in NSW, Australia), who spoke about unresolved issues in relation to voltage fluctuation and unbalance in the power system.
The 20th AUPEC was a major highlight for many patrons and first time participants alike, said Mr Lawrence.
"Delegates had the opportunity to converge at UC and bring together some of the best minds in the field in Australasia," he said.
"It was a chance for us to discuss opportunities for future collaboration and disseminate electric power research findings, while we also got the opportunity to showcase New Zealand and UC's capability as an international leader in the field. This underpins the EPECentre as the Centre of Excellence for electric power engineering in New Zealand."
The conference committee received 212 abstracts from as far afield as Malaysia and the UK. A total of 154 papers were received for final review and 129 were accepted for presentation in four parallel sessions over three days, with the conference dinner at AMI Stadium.
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