Latest news with #ContactEnergy
Otago Daily Times
21-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Contact makes little headway on appeal
More than two months after they were turned down from building a large wind farm at Slopedown, any progress Contact Energy have made in moving the project back on the agenda and getting it built appears to be glacial. The power giant was turned down by a panel set up under Covid-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020 and run by the Environment Protection Authority. The 55-turbine wind farm, on a remote but prominent range of hills near Wyndham, was expected to create up to 240 jobs during construction, and power 150,000 homes when operational. Contact was "gutted" with the decision which was released in the middle of March and immediately said it would appeal. It said it had spent $20 million in developing the project and would be prepared to spend more to get the project approved. The project was turned down because of concerns over the project's adverse effects on indigenous plants and animals — including the critically endangered New Zealand long-tailed bat. The panel questioned whether the impact could be "properly mitigated" during and after the project. Under the Act, the only way to appeal was on points of law. Contact said last week it had filed an appeal to the High Court in April but no date had been set for a hearing. When the proposal was turned down, the power company said the wind farm was a good project for the district and for New Zealand. Contact made the decision to re-apply for consent under the updated Fast-track Approvals Act 2024. It said last week its application was still being assessed. Contact had been aggressive in wanting to build the wind farm, saying it was one of many renewable projects which the country needed as it strived to help reach the aspirational target set by the Government of 100% renewable electricity by 2030. The Electricity Authority in a memo last week said hydro storage was likely to remain low, which will push wholesale spot prices up. However, fuel supply and generation capacity will be sufficient to meet national demand this winter. Transpower, the national grid operator warned last week there was a higher risk of electricity outages starting in winter 2026. The national grid operator's draft security of supply assessment predicted an elevated risk of shortages will arrive four years earlier than thought as recently as a year ago. It found solar, wind and battery storage is not coming online fast enough to make up for dwindling supplies in the country's gas fields. The assessment found, if every electricity generation project in the pipeline was built, supply would be much more reliable, but Transpower said there was a risk of some proposed solar, wind and battery projects falling over.
Time of India
21-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Broadband internet outage affects thousands in New Zealand; causes and explained
Contact Energy broadband users faced a major internet disruption. The outage impacted users in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. Devoli, the network provider, traced the problem to a route reflector in Sydney. Devices in Auckland and Wellington were restarted to fix the issue. Contact Energy confirmed that services are now restored. The company is investigating the cause of the outage. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Popular in International 1. Gary Lineker leaves BBC after controversial "rat" post depicting antisemitic insult Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Residents across New Zealand faced internet outage between 7 and 8:30 PM on Tuesday (May 20, resulting in a large portion of online work coming to a halt. Contact Energy broadband customers across New Zealand, including those in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, experienced the outage, which was attributed to a route reflector issue in Sydney, according to network service provider outage continued for a couple of hours before Contact Energy reports services were restored. The broadband service provider is investigating the cause of the outage."Due to slow response we have restarted devices in Auckland and Wellington," Devoli wrote. "Investigation ongoing."The company later stated that services were being progressively restored while engineers actively monitored the chief retail officer Michael Robertson confirmed that the company's broadband service was back up and running. 'We are working to find out why and how this happened.'Contact Energy has advised customers still experiencing problems to turn their modem off and back on. More than a 100,000 people in New Zealand use Contact broadband media users shared their experiences of the outage. A post on the Vic Deals Facebook page asking about internet loss received 139 comments from users across Wellington person commented: 'Sitting round the table for dinner for once cos there isn't any wifi'.Another said, 'All I want to do is watch some YouTube videos for background noise until I fall asleep'.Gorilla Technology chief executive Paul Spain explained that outages can stem from various issues. These include misconfiguration, equipment failure, or even cyber attacks.'The resolution will depend ultimately on the cause,' he said. 'Appropriately there is redundancy built in to Internet providers networks to reduce the risk of large-scale outages - and these same redundant mechanisms can also be helpful when there is a significant failure.'Spain clarified the role of a route reflector. He said it is critical equipment that helps networks determine the best path for data transmission.'For instance when you want to stream a movie, your Smart TV, phone or computer needs to connect and retrieve the video data across the internet from an appropriate streaming server.'Chorus reported fixing vandalism that took hundreds of Aucklanders offline a few days prior to this event.
RNZ News
20-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Cause of widespread broadband internet outage in major cities unknown
Contact Energy says it's working out how a widespread outage to its broadband internet services occured. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon Contact Energy says it's working out how a widespread outage to its broadband internet services occured. On social media, people in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch reported problems with internet access between 7 - 8.30pm on Tuesday. Contact's chief retail officer Michael Robertson says its broadband service is now back up and running following a brief and unexpected outage. A message on the company's website says if people are still experiencing problems to turn their modem off and back on. More than a hundred-thousand people are Contact broadband customers. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
19-05-2025
- Automotive
- Scoop
Contact Trials Innovative Solution To Enhance EV Charging
Press Release – Contact Energy Contact is piloting an EV Demand Flex programme. This will use technology to determine when energy demand is low and then automatically charge customers EVs. If there is a sudden increase in electricity demand, the technology will stop charging the • Contact launches pilot using innovative technology to make it easy for Electric Vehicle (EV) owners to charge their car when electricity demand is at its lowest. • The pilot aims to ease pressure on the national electricity grid as EV use increases1. • The pilot also aims to help reduce reliance on fossil fuels, supporting the decarbonisation of New Zealand. With the increasing number of EVs on New Zealand's roads, Contact Energy (Contact) is looking to ease pressure on the national electricity grid. This could also help EV drivers reduce the cost of charging their vehicles in the long-term. According to the Electric Vehicle Database's market stats, at the end of April 2025 more than 82,500 fully electric vehicles and 37,300 plug-in hybrids were in use in New Zealand. Charging an EV can increase a household's energy use by up to 30 percent says Powerswitch2. This can put a strain on the national electricity grid during periods of high energy demand, such as first thing in the morning or in the evening. To help reduce this, Contact is piloting an EV Demand Flex programme. This will use technology to determine when energy demand is low and then automatically charge customers' EVs. If there is a sudden increase in electricity demand, the technology will stop charging the vehicle until demand subsides. There are many benefits to this pilot, explains Contact's Acting Chief Retail Officer Michael Robertson. 'At scale, this technology would allow customers to charge their vehicles when demand is low, potentially helping them make savings on their power bill. It will also help ease pressure on the national grid, support New Zealand's energy supply, and reduce reliance on energy generated by fossil fuels,' says Michael. 'Pausing charging an EV, even for a short period of time, contributes to reducing high electricity demand, ensuring electricity goes where it is most needed. It's hard to predict on any given day when there will be an increase in energy demand and that's what makes the EV Demand Flex technology so innovative. 'Plus, our customers can rest easy knowing their EV will be charged to the level they want, ready for when they need it,' says Michael The pilot begins on Tuesday 3 June and may run up to a year. This will deliver valuable information about people's charging behaviours and enable Contact to finetune the EV Flex programme. If the pilot is successful, Contact will expand the programme. The EV Demand Flex pilot will run in addition to Contact's Hot Water Sorter programme, launched in April 2024. So far this has helped 14,000 Kiwi households to reduce their energy usage by turning their hot water cylinders off during peak hours. For the last four years Contact has also been offering 'Good' time of use electricity plans. These plans provide free power during times of low demand, such as at night or at the weekend, rewarding customers for taking pressure off the grid. More than 130,000 Contact customers are on one of the Good Plan range, and these customers have collectively benefited from 215 million hours of free power. Notes 1 Data from Electric Vehicle Database's April market stats shows more than 82,500 fully electric vehicles and 37,300 plug-in hybrids were in use in New Zealand. 2 An electric vehicle can typically increase household electricity use by around 20 to 30 percent according to data from Powerswitch, which can be found here:
Scoop
19-05-2025
- Automotive
- Scoop
Contact Trials Innovative Solution To Enhance EV Charging
Press Release – Contact Energy Contact is piloting an EV Demand Flex programme. This will use technology to determine when energy demand is low and then automatically charge customers EVs. If there is a sudden increase in electricity demand, the technology will stop charging the • Contact launches pilot using innovative technology to make it easy for Electric Vehicle (EV) owners to charge their car when electricity demand is at its lowest. • The pilot aims to ease pressure on the national electricity grid as EV use increases1. • The pilot also aims to help reduce reliance on fossil fuels, supporting the decarbonisation of New Zealand. With the increasing number of EVs on New Zealand's roads, Contact Energy (Contact) is looking to ease pressure on the national electricity grid. This could also help EV drivers reduce the cost of charging their vehicles in the long-term. According to the Electric Vehicle Database's market stats, at the end of April 2025 more than 82,500 fully electric vehicles and 37,300 plug-in hybrids were in use in New Zealand. Charging an EV can increase a household's energy use by up to 30 percent says Powerswitch2. This can put a strain on the national electricity grid during periods of high energy demand, such as first thing in the morning or in the evening. To help reduce this, Contact is piloting an EV Demand Flex programme. This will use technology to determine when energy demand is low and then automatically charge customers' EVs. If there is a sudden increase in electricity demand, the technology will stop charging the vehicle until demand subsides. There are many benefits to this pilot, explains Contact's Acting Chief Retail Officer Michael Robertson. 'At scale, this technology would allow customers to charge their vehicles when demand is low, potentially helping them make savings on their power bill. It will also help ease pressure on the national grid, support New Zealand's energy supply, and reduce reliance on energy generated by fossil fuels,' says Michael. 'Pausing charging an EV, even for a short period of time, contributes to reducing high electricity demand, ensuring electricity goes where it is most needed. It's hard to predict on any given day when there will be an increase in energy demand and that's what makes the EV Demand Flex technology so innovative. 'Plus, our customers can rest easy knowing their EV will be charged to the level they want, ready for when they need it,' says Michael The pilot begins on Tuesday 3 June and may run up to a year. This will deliver valuable information about people's charging behaviours and enable Contact to finetune the EV Flex programme. If the pilot is successful, Contact will expand the programme. The EV Demand Flex pilot will run in addition to Contact's Hot Water Sorter programme, launched in April 2024. So far this has helped 14,000 Kiwi households to reduce their energy usage by turning their hot water cylinders off during peak hours. For the last four years Contact has also been offering 'Good' time of use electricity plans. These plans provide free power during times of low demand, such as at night or at the weekend, rewarding customers for taking pressure off the grid. More than 130,000 Contact customers are on one of the Good Plan range, and these customers have collectively benefited from 215 million hours of free power. Notes 2 An electric vehicle can typically increase household electricity use by around 20 to 30 percent according to data from Powerswitch, which can be found here:
