Consultation on changes to the System Operator Rolling Outage Plan (SOROP) Closed

Cross-submissions closed 20 Mar 2024

In this consultation we were seeking views from the electricity industry on proposed changes to the System Operator Rolling Outage Plan, or SOROP.

The SOROP is one of Transpower’s key security of supply planning and policy documents in its system operator role. It is used to determine if an electricity supply shortage would be declared and how this would be managed. A supply shortage would only be declared in the rare event of either a prolonged transmission capacity issue or a prolonged and severe dry spell that will require electricity conservation.

If a supply shortage were declared it is likely this would require local lines companies and major industrial customers connected directly to the national electricity transmission grid to implement rolling outages as an electricity conservation measure.

We note that dry conditions that would trigger the activation of the System Operator Rolling Outage Plan (SOROP) have not been observed in many years, and not since the SOROP was originally developed in 2010. However, the industry needs to be prepared for the eventuality.

The review follows a desktop exercise with some industry participants that identified areas where the plan could be refreshed and improved. At the time, we committed to review the SOROP in 2023/24.

We wanted to hear from stakeholders

We welcomed any feedback on the SOROP and our proposed amendments, including responses to our specific questions and any other potential amendments we should consider.

We included a word document, for the convenience of submitters, which incorporates all the questions contained in the consultation paper. You can use this for your submission if you would like to.

We also included a word document version of the SOROP with proposed amendments track-changed which can be used to mark up any changes submitters may wish to recommend (if any).

Link to these documents:

Consultation period

The consultation period was 4 weeks commencing Wednesday, 7 February. Submissions were due by 5pm on Wednesday, 6 March 2024. This was followed by a 2-week period for cross-submissions. Cross-submissions closed at 5pm on Wednesday, 20 March 2024.