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Advice to members Tracey Gordon, ATS Energy Account Manager
HYDRO SITUATION STORAGE (% OF MAXIMUM) 100%
75%
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SHORT CIRCUIT | MARCH / APRIL 2014
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ATS Energy can help you with any of your electricity checks or issues so call Tracey today on 0800 BUY ATS (289 287).
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In this region we’re more aware than ever before of the potential for the kind of disaster that knocks power out for a significant period on our farms, in our businesses and homes which are all are reliant on electricity. A generator needs to have sufficient capacity to start the motor it is powering—the capacity normally needs to be two and a half to three times greater than the motor it is starting. If the generator doesn’t have sufficient capacity its output voltage will drop too much during starting and it won’t be able to start the motor. It’s important to note that a licensed electrician must install the generator—and it needs to be correctly positioned on the installation side of the meter, otherwise you will be billed for using the power you generated yourself. Make sure that the generator is tested at least once a week to check that it starts and changes over properly—if its purpose is to power a dairy shed think about using it once a month for a complete milking to make sure staff are familiar with running it.
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Back up generation
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One of the main areas of conflict between the electricity supplier and the customer arises when the meter is not read regularly. Smart meters should be read monthly, and so should irrigation connections but this is not always the case and it is imperative for you to regularly check that your accounts are being read especially for large connections. The electricity account states whether it is based on an actual read or an estimate. If unsure when the last actual read took place, call Tracey on 0800 BUY ATS (289 287) and we can look into what is happening with this.
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Checking the meter
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An increase in hydro storage following multiple storms in the past few weeks has seen only a slight lift in hydro generation, and has seen national storage increase 5% during the past week but it is still sitting 21% below average for this time of year. The Waitaki system, which includes the Tekapo, Pukaki and Ohau lakes storage there is now 18% below average for mid-autumn. Tracey Gordon Meridian’s Waiau system, which includes the Manapouri and Te Anau lakes, held 37% more than a week earlier but still 21% below the seasonal average. Storage at Contact’s Clutha system rose by 8% during the past seven days, but it is 43% below average for this time of year.
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Current hydro situation
Information taken from NZX Energy DISCLAIMER: The purpose of this information is to outline historic data and is intended for general reference only
Driving costs down for future generations with long term savings Farmers are experts in reading and working in the environmental conditions that they are exposed to. so why do we seem to have forgotten about the old traditional ways that used renewable energy in the forms of windmills and Archimedes screws for example, to generate energy for ourselves? We seem content to continue paying for rising power prices annually, when there are tried and tested ways to mitigate these effectively. It’s expensive to run a business and there are a lot of fixed costs you can’t reduce, but you can control your energy spend through both low cost changes and cost effective capital investment. The competitiveness of farming in the current market makes it critical for farm owners to be maximising the use of available technologies to be able to better maintain that competitive edge. If your farm or business uses more electricity than others to produce the same amount of product, you could be wasting electricity, making you less competitive and leaving you exposed when electricity prices rise. Unfortunately there isn’t one silver bullet that can fix the problem of the ever increasing cost of energy. However we can use the old adage ‘reduce and reuse’ to control your current energy usage and now we can add ‘generate new’ to the adage to help give your business that edge.
Solar, wind and hydro electricity generation are not new but it is now economic to consider generating your own power to compliment your current supply. This not only reduces your overall energy cost, it also gives you an alternative energy supply to provide additional operational security in the event of loss or increases in current supply charges. In most cases now the return on investment (ROI) for a typical solar PV system is down to 5–7 years on a system that will continue to generate at 85% efficiency for 25years minimum. This is giving confidence to business owners take up the renewable energy opportunities that not so long ago were almost double that ROI. This ROI period can also be reduced on a scalable fashion by adding (or deducting) from the capital outlay, the annual 10%–13% that you may write off against depreciation.
When grid-connected, solar electric generation can displace the highest cost electricity during times of peak demand (in most climatic regions), can reduce grid loading, and can eliminate the need for local battery power for use in times of darkness and high local demand; such application is encouraged by net metering. Time-of-use net metering can be highly favourable to small photovoltaic systems. Solar electric generation is economically superior where grid connection or fuel transport is difficult, costly or impossible. Examples include satellites, island communities or small towns, remote locations and ocean vessels. Facilities can operate with little maintenance or intervention after initial setup. How can you tell if the panel you have been quoted is a good one? Look for a panel supplier that has tested the panel and it has passed the TUV long-term sequential test. This test is one of the harshest quality and product longevity tests developed specifically for the solar industry. Renewable Solutions Ltd in New Zealand are the only representative in New Zealand of solar panel that has a supplier that has passed all of these tests, the manufacturer is Kyocera Solar (Japan). Any solar system proposal needs to be delivering a ROI within 7 to 7½ years maximum, otherwise the supplier should be assessing your overall energy ‘footprint’ and usage model, to assist you with achieving this goal, Renewable Solutions are experts in this regard. It is quite plausible to design a fully ‘off-the-grid’ farm, of whatever scale, but this is obviously to be rationalised against the ROI. The purpose and succession plans, and possibly the ideological positioning of the farm owners also need to be taken into consideration.
In this first series of renewable energy articles we will provide you with the information to better understand the advantages and restrictions of renewable energy and where to get assistance and advice for your project. Solar photo-voltaic electricity generation:
Grid-connected solar electricity can be used locally thus reducing transmission/distribution losses. Once the initial capital cost of building a solar power plant has been spent, operating costs are extremely low compared to existing power technologies, basically zero. 2
Going ‘off-the-grid’ is not generally the aim of any consideration with regard to renewable energy for a farming enterprise. It is always seen as an opportunity to significantly reduce the reliance on national supply networks and their fees. Small to medium scaled solar farms are also a real opportunity for small towns and communities to be significantly independent with regard to energy, Renewable Solutions are experts at providing advice around these sorts of schemes. In the UK for example, there are a growing amount of smaller communities and towns/villages, banding together to build and own their own localised renewable energy farms. Perhaps this is our logical future too, being a widely scattered and sparsely populated country. If you are interested in solar panels please contact Tracey Gordon, ATS Energy Account Manager on 0800 BUY ATS (289 287) for further details. SHORT CIRCUIT | MARCH / APRIL 2014