Local needs, local power

By CHRIS DANIELS

New Zealand should start building smaller power stations in locations close to where the energy is needed, says a study.

The report, by Canterbury University's Centre for Advanced Engineering, looks into "distributed generation", which it says is more widespread and entrenched than generally recognised - and has the potential to provide up to 40 per cent of future demand growth in New Zealand.

Distributed generation is small-scale generation located close to where the electricity is used, either embedded in an electricity network, or as a stand-alone plant. Demand-side systems, where surplus power is bought back from users, is also considered a form of distributed generation.

Centre executive director George Hooper said this form of generation had the potential to reduce a gap between supply and demand.

Generating power locally was a cheaper alternative to expanding the capacity of transmission and distribution networks.