September 2024 Newsletter

Plenty of FlexForum Members and talk about flexibility at the 2024 EEA conference

The EEA annual conference in Christchurch two weeks ago was the place to be. There were FlexForum Members wherever you went, along with talk about how to make it easier for people to make choices about and use their flexible resources.

We participated in a pre-conference workshop on Future Flextalk: Connecting the dots and planning next steps and said...

‘Flexibility progress requires more focus on the human, because it is not possible to demonstrate things work while treating households and businesses as non-playing characters…’

‘More learning-by-doing is a must have to show HOW to deal with the list of challenges and opportunities of the fundamental changes to the power system.’

‘Two areas which require much more effort are:

How to provide people with the ability to easily get personalised information and advice either directly or from advisers?

How can the holes in the value stack be filled and provide people with (pricing) signals about when, where and how flexibility is valuable?’

Thanks for the invite EEA!

Flex Day

Flex Day is a FlexForum event happening in Christchurch on 17 October 2024. It is about FlexForum Members speeding progress by identifying what real world learning we can (and will) do to build confidence in flexibility and bring tangible benefits to people.

We will start the day by testing perspectives of what good (and bad) looks like to identify the common ground about the features, characteristics and assumptions of a future state for flexibility

Then we will work to confirm the practical priorities to deliver value from flexibility and tangible benefits to people within 12 months.

Finally, we will bring this together when groups of FlexForum Members join heads to design minimum viable flexibility propositions to be implemented and start delivering value within 12 months or highlight what works or needs to change.

The ideas will be pitched to the room....and a few weeks later will be on their way to happening.

This is about walking the talk. There will be special (international!) guests. Clowns. Serious discussion about serious action to make it easier for people to make choices about and use their flexible resources.

Event page

Get in touch at info@flexforum.nz to find out more.

Happy 2nd Birthday Flexibility Plan 1.0. Time for an update.

Flexibility Plan 1.0 turned 2 on 31 August. Which means it’s time for an update...

We will be updating the Flexibility Plan over the coming months to keep relevant the only whole-of-system checklist and reference point for action on flexibility (and electrification).

The Flexibility Plan has not been consigned to that bottom drawer. It is regularly used and is the third most visited destination on our website, just behind the Home and About pages.

Flexibility Plan 2.0 will have more features and excitement than the latest iPhone. So watch this space...

Things FlexForum are working on

September 2024 Newsletter

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We are working on four things:  

Flex Day

Updating the Flexibility Plan

going live with the Knowledge Hub...intended as a one stop shop for useful flexibility stuff in Aotearoa New Zealand and about the world

thinking about what advice we can give on flexibility-related regulatory interventions currently being considered by the Electricity Authority and the Energy Competition Taskforce.

Want to get involved?

FlexForum Members want to make it easier for households, businesses and communities to maximise the value of their energy resources and their flexibility. This flexibility will help deliver an affordable and reliable operation of the electricity system and enable accelerated electrification as part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s transition to a zero emissions economy.

If this sounds like you, check out our Intro to FlexForum for more on our what, why, how and who.

Or check out www.flexforum.nz to find out more or get in touch at info@flexforum.nz if you want to become a Member.

Individuals who are consumers	$0
Organisations with up to two people	$500
Organisations with an annual turnover of $5M or less	$1,500
Organisations with an annual turnover of more than $5M and up to $10M	$5,000
Organisations not in the other categories and industry associations	$10,000
Specified organisations such as large electricity retailers and distributors with more than 100,000 connections	$30,000