An appetite for sustainable living has led to a sharp uptake in electric vehicle (EV) ownership in the seaside village of Raglan, New Zealand. When projections for the resulting increase in electricity demand indicated the imminent need for an additional zone substation power transformer and sub-transmission circuit, local provider WEL Networks sprung to action investigating non-wires alternatives that could safely accommodate the load and defer capital expenditures. 

This case study outlines the first phase of a successful pilot which explores the viability of using PXiSE’s Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) to alleviate grid congestion and stability issues. The software solution uses a combination of on-premise and cloud-based software that communicates with various distributed energy resources (solar, battery and EV) over a cellular network, while ingesting and integrating power network data.