Power outages are disruptive, and with their growing frequency across the country, homeowners and businesses are understandably annoyed. Transpower, New Zealand's state-owned enterprise responsible for electric power transmission, has previously announced on occasion that there insufficient energy to meet demand. This leads to local energy companies switching off or reducing the electricity they provide to their customers.
And the end result is that we all sit in the dark and cold, with the possibility of less or no hot water for morning showers.
But why wasn't there enough energy to meet demand, can this happen again and what can we do about it?
NZ IS NO STRANGER TO POWER CUTS
Power cuts happen for all sorts of reasons, some of which customers are more willing accept than others. For instance, unexpected events such as traffic accidents, earthquakes and storms can disrupt power supplies for short periods of time. While disruptive, they are on the whole mostly unavoidable. However, having no electricity because there isn't enough being made is a totally different story.
In August, Transpower has stated that due to record demand for electricity, there was not enough energy generation to meet those needs. To manage this, they requested that the local lines companies reduce demand by disconnecting power to hot water cylinders and in some cases, entire households. All of this on the coldest night of the year!
Could this happen again? Yes, there is that potential. What can we do about it? Well, that's where we can help.
MANAGING YOUR OWN ENERGY SUPPLY
Choosing to install PV solar systems at your home or business puts the power back in your control, quite literally. This is especially true for systems which have an solar energy storage module. Not only will your system produce energy during the day, but if unused, this energy will then be stored in battery units for use at a later date. If there happens to be a power cut and energy is stored in your battery unit, your home or business can continue without interruption until the stored energy is used up and/or the electricity is restored.
Solar batteries can be installed at the same time as your solar system or as a refit. Our article To Store or Not to Store explores both of these options in more details. Take a look at our recent solar installations and get in touch for a free assessment of your property's solar needs today.
