Supreme Award and Category Winner: Investment in our industry future
Transpower – Real Time Pricing
Making a significant investment in the engineering and technology future of the transmission industry.
New Zealand’s previous electricity market design had a two-day delay in spot prices, hindering real-time decision-making and efficient market operations. The Real Time Pricing project aimed to provide real-time price certainty, requiring significant engineering efforts for real-time data processing and modernising legacy software.
Real Time Pricing delivers real-time spot prices every half hour, enhancing decision-making, participation, renewable energy integration, and demand management. It improves price accuracy, reduces volatility, and drives innovation.
Implemented by the Electricity Authority, Transpower, and NZX, Real Time Pricing supports energy optimisation, distributed energy resource (DER) integration, and a shift to a low-emissions economy, ensuring efficient energy management.
The judges said: Real Time Pricing is a game changer for the wholesale electricity market. The shift from a two-day delay to spot pricing every 30 minutes brings in the demand side of the market, providing real price sensitivity. A truly complex project, demonstrating excellence in large and complex software engineering implementation resulting in transparency that has a profound positive influence and benefits for NZ Inc both for today and the future.
Category Winner: Engineering by design
AECOM – Digital substation protection & automation hardware design
Demonstrated best practice engineering and technology by design to deliver an improved engineering and technology outcome.
The development of digital ‘process bus’ substations required a thorough re-evaluation of protection and automation hardware, which had impacts on design, installation, testing, maintenance, and operations. This project focused on re-designing systems for a greenfield digital substation, allowed for a review of existing designs and aimed to enhance efficiency.
The judges said: AECOM’s work provides significant resilience benefits through less cable, ducts, copper and building, and reduced risk of fire. A high degree of standardisation that allows flexibility to target each substation’s need at the same time. It was great to see stakeholders and cost benefit analysis considered at every stage. This work looked beyond the norm, resulting in far reaching impacts on the future grid.
Category Winner: Collaboration
Beca – Redclyffe Cyclone Gabrielle protection and automation response
Collaborated in a way that resulted in an improved project outcome, innovation, and growth of the transmission industry’s engineering and technology capability.
In February 2023, Cyclone Gabrielle hit New Zealand’s North Island, severely affecting Hawke’s Bay. A National Civil Defence Emergency was declared. Transpower, Ventia, Beca, and other services partners worked to restore and enhance the region’s power system. They repurposed a building for temporary relay equipment and rapidly deployed new protection schemes. Despite the challenges, their collaborative efforts quickly restored resilience to the Redclyffe protection systems, minimising disruption. The response led to innovations and process improvements, illustrating the value of effective teamwork and engineering ingenuity. This outcome is recognised in a joint award nomination by Ventia, Beca, and Transpower.
The judges said: The nomination provided an excellent example of collaboration, it didn’t matter who you worked for, or the job you do, everyone got stuck in. The team were always ahead of the game and never in a position of failing to meet demand. This is a true testament to the culture of collaboration between Beca, Ventia, Transpower and other services partners in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Category Winner: Sustainability
Transpower – Moving towards zero waste recycling glass insulators
An initiative that will provide long-term positive impacts on the environment.
The 2020 Sustainability Strategy identified recyclable assets like glass insulators, which comprise 17% of Transpower’s waste. The glass insulator recycling initiative diverts 127 tonnes of insulators from landfill annually, helping Transpower reach its goal of reducing landfilled waste by 30% by 2030 and cutting disposal costs by 30%. Challenges included assessing the recyclability of hardened glass, processing practicality, and identifying a recycling partner. The scheme minimises impact on field operations and repurposes materials, with recycled glass used in products like glass wool insulation, enhancing energy efficiency in homes and businesses.
The judges said: An excellent example of a circular economy. This work really stands out. Its elegance is in its simplicity resulting in a positive environmental impact, a true example of work that strikes at the core of what sustainability really means.
Category Winner: Value engineering
Transpower – An improved tower painting economic model using Machine Learning
An innovation that demonstrates the greatest whole of life nett benefits to support our energy future.
Transpower spends $50 million annually on painting to mitigate corrosion of its 24,000 steel towers. An ageing fleet made future costs non-viable, prompting the development of a more accurate Tower Painting Cost model using machine learning (ML). This model identifies complex patterns to improve forecast accuracy, potentially saving $20-40 million over 10 years. It optimises painting schedules, extends tower life, and minimises environmental impacts. The ML model improved first paint forecasts by 73% and recoat forecasts by 58%. This project introduced new capabilities within Transpower, including the first in-house automated ML model and production pipeline, requiring multidisciplinary collaboration.
The judges said: Facing a large portfolio spend on the aging fleet, the team managed to more than halve the cost of the portfolio. A demonstration of excellence in risk-based assessment, use of predictive analysis, and innovation. A real stand out, producing a profound change to operations, and a way of working which is reusable for a number of other cases.
Category Winner: Complex and challenging
Transpower – Cyclone Gabrielle Response restoring power to 225,000 customers through collaboration and innovative solutions
A complex engineering and technology challenge resolved in an elegant and straightforward manner.
Cyclone Gabrielle devastated the Hawke’s Bay region, leaving 225,000 residents without power and damaging electricity infrastructure. The most critical was at Transpower’s Redclyffe substation where floodwaters rose to 1.5m, severing connections to the National Grid. Transpower’s Operational Engineering team faced challenges due to lack of information, blocked roads, and no cell-phone coverage. Despite this, they restored 100MW of power within three days, lifting regional morale. Solutions included establishing a 220kV connection from Tauhara to Whakatu, reviving Redclyffe with a 110kV connection from Tuai, creating a 33kV tie, and commissioning an interconnector. Their innovative, collaborative work showcased commitment to delivery and effective problem-solving under pressure.
The judges said: Four enabling projects implemented with ingenuity. The commitment to restoring power swiftly and safely had a significant impact on the affected communities. Three days after the initial flood, and two days after establishing ground and communications with the service providers on-site, 100MW of power was restored. A fantastic illustration of excellence in a complex and challenging situation.
2024 Transpower Engineering and Technology Excellence Awards Judges’ Commendations
The judges also awarded three commendations to:
- Ergo Consulting for building a power systems consultancy from the bottom up.
- AECOM for high voltage switchboard remediation at Pan Pac following Cyclone Gabrielle.
- Ventia for the sustained commitment and collaboration in response to Cyclone Gabrielle.
Congratulations again to you all!