Climate change has already affected how electricity gets delivered to customers, and it’s only going to get more challenging. Vector’s Chief Networks Officer Andre Botha outlines what the lines company is doing to respond. 

‘Australia is melting’, ‘US freezes to death’ and ‘Cat frozen solid thaws to full recovery’…. January’s weather-related news headlines were straight out of an apocalyptic Hollywood blockbuster.

Indeed, the great Polar Vortex of early 2019 was one of a series of extreme weather events that wreaked havoc around the globe, and New Zealand wasn’t spared. Although some insist Auckland’s ‘heatwave’ was a bit of an anti-climax, other parts of the country got so hot they smashed records.

But these extreme weather events were no joke. Not only were lives lost through extreme heat and cold, core infrastructure took a hit putting many communities at even greater risk.

Parts of Australia’s power grid buckled as thousands of people cranked their air con to full bore to deal with the heatwave, causing power cuts for hordes of steaming mad customers.  

In the US and Canada, it got so cold people were being advised not to breathe too deeply when they went outside, and, if they had to go outside at all, do so knowing that frost bite could set in within 5-10 minutes.

The polar vortex was a stark reminder of how extreme weather events are becoming more frequent with the onset of climate change. We saw it in 2017 in the Edgecumbe floods, when 1600 people were evacuated and several homes were destroyed. And last year we felt it in April, when extreme winds caused unprecedented damage across Auckland’s network leaving thousands without power.

Climate change will continue to take lives and livelihoods away, and cost us financially too. When you add earthquakes into the mix it’s no surprise New Zealand is ranked second in the world for highest expected loss from natural disasters.   

So, what is Vector doing to prepare Auckland’s power network for the future? Plenty. And it includes a mix of technology, collaboration and new ways of thinking.

Breaking wind

A recent climate report commissioned by Vector found that wind is going to become the biggest climate change related weather risk to impact Auckland’s electricity network. This is problematic because we Aucklanders love our trees, and when you add extremely strong winds to trees near powerlines, you get broken powerlines – and plenty of them.

Vector is preparing for a windy future by investing in bundled aerial conductors. This involves bundling several powerlines into one, and fully insulating them to make them stronger and safer. While this will help powerlines stand up to trees and wind, no cutting-edge technology can compete with good old fashion tree management.

This means planting the right trees (preferably natives, their roots are typically stronger) in the right place (i.e. not under power lines!) and giving Vector more regulatory freedom to trim and remove problem trees where necessary. Vector’s Urban Forest initiative is all about promoting this approach. Ultimately, this helps reduce risks caused by windier weather, not just for our power supply but in terms of public safety too.

Coping with the heat

Here is a fun fact: the temperature and moisture in the earth surrounding an underground power cable has a direct impact on how much jandal said cable can handle. The higher the temperature and drier the soil, the more difficult it becomes for our cables and lines to meet your energy needs.  

This becomes a growing concern for us as climate change continues to show up in the form of heatwaves and dry spells. Vector manages this risk by setting different capacity ratings on our assets depending on the weather conditions in summer and winter. Our control room crunches the real-time data to ensure our critical assets can cope with the heat. If they see capacity problems brewing, they can switch around the circuits to add more capacity to certain areas as required. You can help too, of course, by managing your own electricity usage – especially during a heatwave. That means when the temp hits 30+ you have Vector’s permission to push pause on household chores, and limit yourself to a fan, fridge and TV show of your choosing. You’re welcome!  

Sharing resilience

If sea levels rise, Vector will move poles and wires to higher ground. If a wind storm strikes, we will rotate crews day and night until the lights are back on. There are many things we can and will do to make the network more resilient. But if we were to do everything all at once it would come at a huge cost that would blow out your power bill, so striking the right balance is key.

The cold hard reality is a gold-plated network won’t necessarily keep you warm (or cool) in an extreme weather situation. For example, if a flood in central North Island takes out Transpower’s network, Aucklanders may still lose power. If a string of dry winters empty the southern lakes – Aucklanders may still lose power. The back up plan to deal with these scenarios is currently to burn coal to meet demand, which, excuse my facepalm, costs a bomb and pumps the air full of more greenhouse gases.

Instead, Vector is promoting the concept of ‘shared resilience’ to empower customers with their own energy resources when the going gets tough. Solar, batteries, electric vehicles and other clean distributed energy resources can buy you time during any kind of power outage. Imagine the community hero props coming your way if in an emergency you can use power from your roof to make tea, heat food and charge your neighbours’ phones. Imagine if everyone on your street had an EV with a reverse charge system that could power home appliances for a few extra hours. Now imagine if your home could link up with the local supermarket that had an industrial scale solar and battery system on its property? It would keep essentials running hot while repairs are underway, helping you stay in control when the shit hits the fan.   

Getting ahead of the curve

We get that some vested interests out there just want us to ‘stick to our knitting’ and focus solely on our slice of the energy pie – the poles and wires that have served us well for decades, and will no doubt continue to do so. But innovation doesn’t happen without effort. And disruption doesn’t wait around, it starts slowly and then arrives suddenly. The environment is changing and the energy sector has got to change with it and be ready. While we’ll do what we can to maintain a network that can stand up to any type of weather, we’ll keep thinking outside of the box too.

Our recently announced vehicle-to-home trial in Piha is an example of this strategy in action, as is the continued development of our Vector DERMS platform.  On top of all that – we’ve also set our own target of net zero emissions by 2030 to ensure we play our part in address the root cause of the issue. This move supports the international aim of holding global warming to less than two degrees centigrade relative to pre-industrial levels. It’s why we helped found New Zealand’s Climate Leaders Coalition, because we recognise the importance of reducing emissions in New Zealand, supporting the Paris Climate Agreement, and transitioning to a low emissions economy that will help create a positive future for all New Zealanders.

This content is brought to you by Vector. If you live in Auckland, they also delivered the power you’re using to read it. And they’re creating a new energy future for all of us, as showcased by the incredible Vector Lights in partnership with Auckland Council.

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: More defections shake British politics, massive hole in NZ’s biosecurity defences revealed, and Privacy Commissioner makes intervention in self-ID debate.

We’re going international today, because there have been hugely significant developments in British politics overnight. The established party system in Britain is imploding, with MPs from both major parties splitting off to form a new group. Organising under the not remotely catchy banner of The Independent Group, they are decrying what they see as the extremism taking hold in both major parties. While the conditions will be unique to Britain, in general terms we’re about to see a fascinating experiment in parliamentary politics. Is there really a place for a party that operates in the so-called centre ground of politics?

The group’s membership is now up to 11 MPs, with more expected to join, which bear in mind is out of a parliament of 650. The developments overnight, from the BBC, are that three Conservative MPs have split from their party to join the eight former Labour MPs who have left that party over the course of the week. That already catapults them to being the 4th equal largest group in the parliament. The Guardian reports that the Conservative MPs who left say that modernisation efforts within the party have been destroyed by the hard right, who now control it in every meaningful way. Having former Conservative MPs on board in turn give The Independent Group far more legitimacy too, given previously it was comprised solely of former Labour MPs on the outer from the current leadership. It also makes it possible that they won’t be able to agree on much within their new parties either.

The odds seem long for any new party to break through the inherent electoral unfairness of Britain’s first past the post system, but writing on politics.co.uk, editor Ian Dunt writes that it could be the shake that the moribund party system needs. On the other hand, writing on Novara Media, left-winger Aaron Bastani says the project will be a disaster, because they don’t seem to have a distinct agenda or any clarity around what they actually stand for. That has long been a criticism of these sorts of centrist movements – that they quickly descend into wooly platitudes rather than pursuing a meaningful political programme. And it may well be that voters see this all as one great big jolly game for the political elite to be playing, with little relevance to their lives.

Apart from a sense that their parties have left them behind, all of the group so far back remaining on the question of Brexit, which neither major party supports, but about half the country does. But that doesn’t necessarily matter, because MPs have been breaking party lines constantly on Brexit anyway, and no election has been called, so the new group doesn’t change things there. The deadline for exiting remains March 29, and exiting with no deal continues to seem like the most likely option. This is where the direct relevance to New Zealand comes in – MPI is currently publishing information for exporters about what to do in case of no deal, and as the NZ Herald reports, there will likely be significant difficulties for NZ companies if that happens. If this new group can delay or even stop Brexit, they may well end up doing one of their former colonies a favour.

A massive potential hole in New Zealand’s biosecurity defences has been discovered, in the form of cruise ships. Newshub has revealed that thousands of passengers have arrived on land without being checked by MPI sniffer dogs, and MPI also doesn’t have detailed records for the food on a lot of the ships. The biosecurity minister Damien O’Connor says it’s not good enough, and has ordered a review. We can’t conclude that this is how the foreign fruit flies are getting in, but this is one way that can’t be ruled out.

Privacy commissioner John Edwards has waded into the tense debate around transgender self-identification. Writing on The Spinoff, he argues that this is a fundamental question of human rights, and that a law change to allow changing the listed gender on a birth certificate will help transgender people live with dignity. The debate over the proposed law change has largely taken place outside of mainstream news, but with a furious intensity all the same.

Police have admitted that their chain of custody for Pike River mine evidence wasn’t up to scratch in the days after the explosion, reports Stuff. At the time, the collection and recording of evidence was described as disorganised, and that was only rectified later in the piece. It’s worth bearing in mind that when Pike River is re-entered, the miners who go in have been trained in forensic techniques, in case further evidence can be gathered. Writing on The Spinoff, journalist Rebecca Macfie, who has written a book about the tragedy, breaks down in simple terms exactly why the missing evidence matters.

We tend to assume that lawmakers will act in the national interest, rather than their personal interests. But we also probably shouldn’t forget that various law changes will have an effect on their lives and finances. That’s basically the thrust of this Newsroom piece, which notes that many MPs who have come out against a possible capital gains tax also own significant amounts of property and business interests.

ACT’s David Seymour is a stark exception here – he’s virulently opposed to a CGT, but like every true millennial owns no property. Remember, this is all completely publicly available information, so if you want to have a look through the register of interests and see which MPs own what, have a gander here.

Lime scooters could be kicked off Auckland’s streets very soon, over concerns the fleet isn’t safe, reports Radio NZ. Auckland Transport’s message to Lime is that software and mechanical failures are completely unacceptable, and that Lime’s response to those concerns has been too slow. There’s another very curious development in all of this – it turns out the way for Limes to be introduced was smoothed by former Labour Party president Mike Williams, who was paid to make introductions on their behalf.

So yesterday I suggested that deputy PM Winston Peters might owe Dame Jenny Shipley an apology, over a column that it turns out she didn’t write. Mr Peters clearly disagrees with that assessment, reports Radio NZ, and has in fact doubled down on his attack, saying they are her words (technically true) and that she needs to explain them. PM Jacinda Ardern has basically kept out of it all, while National leader Simon Bridges says it’s Mr Peters who is at fault for alleged cracks in the relations between the two countries. Dame Jenny herself hasn’t made any further comment since yesterday.

Meanwhile, we’ve got a fascinating piece on The Spinoff about this whole relationship situation – are we in danger of over-reading tiny signs as diplomatically momentous? Massey University politics expert Bethan Greener argues that we might have jumped to conclusions a bit too frequently over the last few weeks.

The Bulletin is The Spinoff’s acclaimed, free daily curated digest of all the most important stories from around New Zealand delivered directly to your inbox each morning.

Right now on The Spinoff: Our Two Freelancers ponder how much money they’ll need for retirement, as people currently in their 20s. Dylan Reeve rolls his eyes at people who say they’ve been ‘hacked’, when really they’ve just left themselves open. And Tony McCaffrey writes about putting on stage performances for people with intellectual disabilities.

I’m totally convinced animals are far, far smarter and more aware of the world than we give them credit, so found this article fascinating. Published by The Atlantic, it takes a bird hospital in India, and uses that for a wider meditation on the nature of animal consciousness. Crows in particular are seen as very clever at problem solving – but does that necessarily make them conscious beings? Here’s an excerpt:

“A few days after the crow arrived, it started using a special call when it wanted food,” Singh said. “None of the other birds do that.” The bird’s call was not an entirely unique case of bird-to-human communication. A grey parrot once amassed a 900-word vocabulary, and in India, a few have been trained to recite the Vedic mantras. But birds have only rarely assembled verbal symbols into their own, original proto-sentences. And, of course, none has declared itself conscious.

That’s too bad, because philosophers tend to regard such statements as the best possible evidence of another being’s consciousness, even among humans. Without one, no matter how long I stared into the crow’s black pupil, wishing I could see into the phantasmagoria of its mind, I could never really know whether it was conscious. I’d have to be content with circumstantial evidence.

Could New Zealand host the 2023 Netball World Cup? Newsroom reports there’s a tussle going on between this country and South Africa for the right to host that tournament, with NZ Netball hoping to get the tournament for a year they will celebrate their centenary. It also comes as the sport looks to fend off challengers for participants and fans, though any World Cup would be held entirely in Auckland, which would limit its nationwide appeal somewhat.

Finally, congratulations to Ross Taylor, who is now NZ’s highest-ever scoring ODI batsman. Taylor brought up the milestone in an otherwise entirely forgettable series against Bangladesh, and says retirement is still a long way from his mind.

From our partners: Barbecuing is one of New Zealand’s national summer past-time, but what are the nuances in our barbecue culture? Brenda Talacek, Vector’s Group Manager for Gas Trading, lifts the lid.

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This content is brought to you by Vector. If you live in Auckland, they also delivered the power you’re using to read it. And they’re creating a new energy future for all of us, as showcased by the incredible Vector Lights in partnership with Auckland Council.