Examining the potential of Advanced Electricity Metering in New Zealand

Abstract

This dissertation examines advanced metering technology and its application to the context of domestic electricity use within New Zealand. It identifies the current state of advanced metering technology and the associated effects of its introduction within an international context. This is achieved through a review of academic literature and contextualised through an assessment of current markets, products, and cases of large scale advanced metering deployments. This information is required in order to ascertain the spread of options existing currently and provide data, which is crucial for the design-led modelling and scenario building process. After a close examination of the design options, and theoretical models for advanced metering, an improved model is generated so the available configuration of products within various types of systems can be understood and communicated. Information from the investigation of New Zealand's domestic environment, with a specific emphasis of energy-use, is provided to create a context for the use of advanced metering systems. This research develops an innovative tool, which allows the complexity, and variability of advanced metering systems to be communicated, modified, and analysed depending on a specific context. By applying this tool a range of scenarios are generated that demonstrate potential options for the New Zealand context. Taken together they encompass the spread of viable advanced metering options, and clearly demonstrate the still largely untapped potential of advanced metering technology in the New Zealand context.