Orion and Wellington Electricity’s work on residential flexibility saw the teams take out the Best Paper - Member award for their joint presentation at the recent Electricity Engineers' Association (EEA) Conference in Ōtautahi Christchurch. 

The paper and presentation – “Resi-Flex – Incentivise flexibility from residential consumers by exploring commercial mechanisms with flexibility stakeholders” – focuses on trialling whether residential flexible loads like electric vehicles or hot water can help manage the networks and address challenges like population growth, electric vehicle uptake, and the increase in electrification.   

The project has been a true collaboration, reflected by the joint presentation from Orion Head of Market and Customer Innovation, Evie Trolove, and Wellington Electricity Commercial and Regulatory Manager, Scott Scrimgeour, who were thrilled to win the award. 

“It was a nice surprise! Resi-Flex embodies two major themes from the EEA Conference – flexibility and collaboration. It's awesome to have that recognised” says Evie.  

“The concept of flexibility is gaining more traction and our work focuses on researching consumer capability for flexibility and understanding the whole value chain to drive greater use of flexibility resources.” 

The award coincides with the release of the first public report on the project from the two businesses – “Resi-Flex – Unlocking the value of residential flexibility”. 

“What an awesome way to recognise the progress made so far and to provide momentum for the next project step” says Scott. 

 “We will now take what we have learnt from talking to consumers and stakeholders and work with electricity retailers and flexibility suppliers to develop flexibility products for consumers to try out.”  

The transformation of Aotearoa’s energy market is fast becoming a New Zealand imperative, with the increased focus on climate change, decarbonisation and the electrification of our economy all indicating that the energy sector is on the cusp of significant change. 

This is highlighting the opportunities for more innovation projects, trials, and research initiatives, together with strong industry collaboration to enable and support the rapid decarbonisation of our country. You can read the public report here.