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Wind Energy Conference 2015 - Programme

The 2015 NZ Wind Energy Conference was held at the Rydges Hotel Wellington, 1st and morning of 2nd April 2015.  . 

The conference covered a range of themes, such as latest turbine developments, electricity grid innovation, energy futures for New Zealand, operations and maintenance, and health and safety.  Day 2 was a half day workshop on moving towards 100% renewable generation in New Zealand.

Day 1 - 1st April

8.30-8.45:  Welcome, outline for the day etc.

8.45-9.15:  Keynote address:  Stuart Nash, Energy Spokesperson, NZ Labour Party

9.15-10.40:  Where is wind technology headed and what is the future in terms of electricity systems? 

  • Increasing scale of turbines, more product offering into class II sites.  Graeme McCann DNVGL.  Graeme is head of load analysis and will outline recent turbine innovations, reasons for the increases in productivity from turbines and what further improvements the future may hold.

  • Electricity sector developments - batteries, demand response, electric vehicles etc.  Marcel Brzank, Siemens.  Marcel covers the energy storage, intelligent network management solutions and grid integration for Siemens Australasia-Pacific.  Marcel will outline grid developments and innovations that support variable generation.

  • Global and New Zealand overview and directions:  Eric Pyle, CEO NZ Wind Energy Association.

  • Discussion

11.15-12.00:  Energy scenarios for NZ

  • Business Energy Council presenting on energy scenarios for NZ.  John Carnegie, Business NZ.

  • Wind generation in the current electricity market environment.  Chris More, Renewable Energy Options Manager, Meridian Energy.

12.00-12.30 Opportunities for sponsors to outline to the conference their products and services

12.30-1.30 Lunch

1.30-2.30 Opportunities:  Climate change and CO2 emissions – electrifying NZ with renewable energy

  • Increasing the use of electricity in the economy – Greg Skelton, CEO, Wellington Electric Lines

  • International climate policies and implications for NZ - Dr Adrian Macey.  Dr Macey has held the positions of Chief Trade Negotiator, Climate Change Ambassador, Ambassador to France and the OECD, Chair of the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol Negotiations.  Dr Macey is currently a Senior Associate with the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies at Victoria University of Wellington.

2.30-3.00 Afternoon Tea

3.00-4.50 Health and Safety, Operations and maintenance, update on projects

  • Maintaining and upgrading blades – the critical aspects of turbines.  Ollie Manins. Trustpower

  • Operating and maintaining wind turbines in the world's best wind regime:  Lessons learned and future directions.  Russell Thomas, Wind Maintenance Manager, Meridian Energy.

  • Mill Creek wind farm.  Lessons learned including health and safety learnings.  Andre Holm, Safety Specialist, Corporate Projects, Meridian Energy

  • Flat Hill – building a windfarm in the current market.  Fraser Jonker, CEO, Pioneer Generation.

4.50-5.00 Wrap up – what have we heard today?

5.00 - Drinks and “stand up” networking dinner

 

Day 2:  Thursday Morning, April 2 (half day), Rydges Hotel, Wellington

Workshop:  Moving towards 100% renewable electricity generation.

Globally many countries are making significant strides to develop renewable generation albeit off a low base.  Climate science tells us we need to move to 100% renewable generation at some point in the future.  New Zealand has a target of 100% renewable generation, but could we go beyond that?  Could we reach 100% renewable generation?  In practice achieving 90% generation in an average hydrological year will mean New Zealand will be at 100% renewable generation.  This workshop will explore the challenges and opportunities in moving towards 100% renewable electricity generation.