The Delivery Decade Starts Now: Modern Grids. Smarter Systems. Sustainable Futures: Powering Aotearoa's Energy Transition.
Agenda Day 1
Morning Track
9:00 am - 9:10 am
Chair's Opening Remarks
Michelle Polglase -
General Manager Projects Delivery,
Ara Ake
9:10 am - 9:30 am
CEO PANEL - No Filter: New Zealand's Energy CEOs on What's Really Happening
The view from the Chief Executives. No slides. No prepared remarks - and the questions the sector needs answered about capital, delivery risk, regulatory settings, and the key priorities beyond 2026.
Where the major generators are committing capital right now - and what would accelerate or stop that commitment
The delivery risk no one is saying publicly: consenting delays, connection queues, and workforce gaps are already slowing the pipeline
What CEOs need from regulators, government, and each other to move at the pace the supply gap demands - and what they're not currently getting
9:30 am - 10:00 am
Partner Case Study
10:00 am - 10:30 am
Case Study - From Poles and Wires to Intelligent Networks: How Counties Energy is Building the Utility of 2035
10:30 am - 10:45 am
Speed Networking - Power Rounds: Find Your Three Most Important Conversations Before Lunch
Fast, structured, and deliberately useful. Six rounds of 90 seconds, prompted by challenge rather than job title - designed to surface the connections that actually matter in a room this valuable.
10:45 am - 11:15 am
Panel - Collaboration in Action: Industry, Government & Iwi on a Shared Pathway
The energy transition cannot be delivered by any one sector working alone. This session examines where cross-sector collaboration is genuinely working - and where the silos are still slowing delivery.
The coordination failures costing the sector time and money: where misalignment between generators, networks, and government is compounding the delivery challenge
Iwi partnership in energy infrastructure - what genuine co-design looks like beyond consultation and why it produces better projects
The cross-sector commitments the industry needs to make - and hold - to close the 2030 gap as a system rather than as individual organisations
11:15 am - 11:45 am
Morning Break - Reconnect and Refocus
Step away to reflect on the key issues the Leaders' Morning surfaced, reconnect with peers facing the same challenges, and refocus. The exhibition floor is open.
IDG
Interactive Discussion Groups
11:45 am - 1:15 pm IDG A - Clearing the Connection Queue: What's Actually Blocking the Pipeline?Aligned to: Grid & Network Infrastructure
6 GW of enquiries, a growing queue, and timeframes already influencing investment decisions - where the real bottlenecks sit
What generators and developers need from Transpower and EDBs that the current process isn't delivering
The rule changes and process reforms that would have the biggest impact on connection pace in 2026
Interactive Discussion Groups
11:45 am - 1:15 pm IDG C - Powering Stability: Deploying Storage & Flexibility at ScaleAligned to: Energy Storage & Battery Technology
Operational realities from NZ's first grid-scale battery commissioning wave - what the investment case looks like after 12 months of real data
Revenue stacking in practice: frequency, reserves, and energy arbitrage - what's working and what isn't in the NZ market
What the second wave of storage projects needs to do differently based on first-wave learnings
Interactive Discussion Groups
11:45 am - 1:15 pm IDG E - The Smart Network: Reinforcing Grid Resilience Through TechnologyAligned to: Grid & Network Infrastructure
DSO transformation in practice - what active network management actually requires from EDBs that most aren't yet equipped to deliver
Cybersecurity for operational technology: the mandatory investment the sector is making and the gaps that remain
Dynamic line rating, advanced protection, and digital control - the tools unlocking additional capacity without new wire
Aligned to: EPC & Project Delivery
Supply chain, resourcing, and construction capacity - what the NZ market can and cannot absorb at current pipeline volumes
Permitting in practice: what Electrify NZ has changed, what it hasn't, and what needs to change next
The procurement reforms that the fastest-moving developers are using right now
Aligned to: Digital, Data & AI Solutions
Moving from pilot to production: why most AI and analytics projects in utilities stall before they deliver operational value - and how to fix it
Predictive maintenance, digital twins, and real-time control - where the gains are being captured in NZ networks
The data quality and integration problem behind every failed digital transformation in the sector
Aligned to: Engineering & Advisory Consultancies
Green hydrogen economics in the NZ context - where and when it becomes competitive, and which industrial applications make sense now vs. later
Industrial electrification vs. hydrogen: which hard-to-abate sectors should electrify and which genuinely need hydrogen
The energy supply partnerships that large industrials need to commit to decarbonisation - and what's stopping them from signing
Afternoon Track
TRACK A: BUILDING THE NEW ENERGY SYSTEM
2:15 pm - 2:35 pm Keynote + Q&A: Inside New Zealand's Renewable Pipeline: Progress, Bottlenecks & BreakthroughsA frank audit of where the pipeline actually stands - what's commissioning, what's stalling, and what the gap between the project register and delivered megawatts reveals.
The projects that are ahead of schedule and what they did differently
Where the pipeline is most at risk and what intervention is needed now
What 1,100 MW commissioning in one year demands from the system around it
TRACK A: BUILDING THE NEW ENERGY SYSTEM
2:35 pm - 3:05 pm Panel Debate: The Connection Crunch: How to Deliver Faster, Smarter Grid Access Marko Simunac - General Manager Operations & Maintenance, Vector LimitedAstad Kapadia - Head of DSO Strategy, Counties Energy
Generators, network operators, and the Electricity Authority debate what it would take to halve connection timeframes - and who needs to move first.
The commercial and regulatory changes that would have the biggest impact on connection pace
What Transpower's Net Zero Grid Pathways programme is delivering - and what it's not yet solving
Co-investment models and anticipatory investment frameworks that could break the logjam
TRACK A: BUILDING THE NEW ENERGY SYSTEM
3:05 pm - 3:35 pm Panel - Balancing Speed, Scale & Sustainability in Energy InfrastructureAs the pressure to build faster intensifies, the risks of building badly grow with it - this session examines how to maintain standards without sacrificing pace.
Where fast-track consenting is creating new risks that weren't in the original calculus
Community and Iwi engagement at speed - what shortcuts cost and what genuine partnership delivers
Quality and safety standards under delivery pressure: lessons from major build programmes that moved too fast
TRACK A: BUILDING THE NEW ENERGY SYSTEM
3:35 pm - 4:00 pm Case Study - Project Delivery Excellence: Lessons from New Zealand's Major BuildsThe teams behind NZ's most complex recent energy infrastructure projects share the decisions, systems, and partnerships that made delivery possible.
The contract and procurement structures that absorbed risk without slowing the programme
Supply chain management at scale: what worked when the global market was tight
The one decision that, looking back, determined whether the project succeeded
TRACK B: STORAGE, FLEXIBILITY & FIRMING CAPACITY
2:15 pm - 2:35 pm Case Study: Building the Business Case for Long-Duration Storage in New ZealandThe investment case for long-duration storage is more complex than for short-duration batteries - higher risk, harder revenue stacking, and a market still developing the frameworks.
What a bankable long-duration storage project looks like in the NZ regulatory and market context
Government co-investment and revenue underwriting - what structures are emerging and what investors need
The Lake Onslow question: current status, revised timeline, and what a final investment decision requires
TRACK B: STORAGE, FLEXIBILITY & FIRMING CAPACITY
2:35 pm - 3:05 pm Panel: Deploying Batteries, Pumped Hydro & Demand Response. What System Stability Actually RequiresThe storage pipeline is real - the question is whether it's being deployed in a way that solves the firming challenge or filling the easy revenue gaps while the hard problem remains.
What the grid actually needs from storage vs. what the current business cases are optimising for
Demand response at scale: the untapped flexibility in NZ's industrial and commercial load
Pumped hydro economics - when and at what price does long-duration storage become viable in NZ?
TRACK B: STORAGE, FLEXIBILITY & FIRMING CAPACITY
3:05 pm - 3:35 pm Panel - From Pilot to Portfolio. Scaling Batteries Across the NetworkNZ's first grid-scale battery systems are commissioning in 2026. The operational data being gathered right now will determine the investment decisions for the next 3 GW.
Operational performance vs. the investment case: where the gaps are emerging after 12 months of live operation
Grid services, ancillary markets, and revenue stacking - what's working and what needs market reform to unlock
What the second wave of storage projects needs to look like based on first-wave learnings
TRACK B: STORAGE, FLEXIBILITY & FIRMING CAPACITY
3:35 pm - 4:00 pm Case Study - Optimising Flexibility Markets. What Reform Needs to Deliver for System ReliabilityNZ's flexibility markets are being redesigned - the question is whether the new frameworks are creating the right signals at the pace the system needs.
The market design changes that would most improve the investment case for storage and demand flexibility
Where the current reform agenda is creating the right incentives - and where it's still falling short
What retailers, aggregators, and large consumers need from flexibility markets that they're not currently getting
Demo Drive
4:00 pm - 4:15 pm
Live Technology. Real Projects. Immediate Impact.
A curated showcase of the solutions transforming how New Zealand generates, stores, manages, and protects its power system. Fast-paced, focused, and built for the senior leaders making procurement and investment decisions.
Afternnoon Track
4:15 pm - 4:45 pm
Afternoon Break
Time to process the afternoon's insights, reconnect with industry peers, and explore the exhibition floor for the technologies enabling faster delivery, smarter storage, and more resilient networks.
4:45 pm - 5:15 pm
Investor Panel - The Investor Verdict: Where Capital Is Going in New Zealand Energy and What Could Stop It
Hayden Mackenzie -
Head of Energy Investment,
Invest New Zealand
Infrastructure investors, green finance leads, and project finance directors give their unvarnished read on the NZ market.
The deals being structured right now - asset classes, risk profiles, and the appetite that's changed since 2024
Policy risk vs. market risk: which is the bigger deterrent to new capital in 2026 and what would move the dial
What NZ projects need to demonstrate to compete with Australian and global alternatives for the same institutional capital
5:15 pm - 5:45 pm
The Road to 2030: Turning Strategy into Measurable Outcomes
Two days of debate condensed into the sector's most consequential session: a live delegate vote on NZ energy's top priorities for the year ahead, followed by five senior leaders making specific public commitments before NZ Power Summit 2027.
Ten candidate priorities drawn from two days of sessions, IDG outputs, and boardroom findings - delegates vote live, top five revealed on stage
Five senior leaders make named commitments with timeframes: not aspirations or policy positions, but specific things they will do differently
Results published within 48 hours as the NZ Power Summit 2026 Sector Priorities Report - followed up publicly at NZ Power Summit 2027
5:45 pm - 6:00 pm
Day One Close: What This Room Heard, What It Means, and What It Does Next
Not a recap. A challenge. A respected sector figure closes Day One with something direct to say to a room that has just spent a day confronting the hardest questions in New Zealand energy.
The three things the sector agreed on today - and the two it didn't, and why those two matter more
A direct challenge: what is the one thing you will do differently in your organisation before the next NZ Power Summit?
The expectation for Day Two - this event produces action, not just conversation
5:50 pm - 6:10 pm
Drinks Reception
Energy. Innovation. Collaboration. Unwind after a day of high-impact discussion. The exhibition floor stays open, the bar is ready, and the only agenda is the conversation you didn't finish earlier. Sponsor-supported.
EXECUTIVE BOARDROOM
2:15 pm - 2:20 pm
Chair's Opening Remarks
2:20 pm - 2:50 pm
Keynote - When It Goes Wrong: Leading Through a Regulatory Crisis Without Losing Your Organisation's Trust
Andrew Kerr -
Chief Customer & Strategy,
Alpine energy
How Alpine Energy managed a high-profile pricing error that attracted significant media attention and scrutiny from the Commerce Commission.
The governance, risk management, and people leadership challenges involved in navigating a regulatory event of this nature, offering a valuable alternative perspective to the major weather-event case studies often discussed within the sector.
Key lessons learned and how these experiences can be translated into practical insights for other C-suite executives facing complex operational, regulatory, and reputational challenges.
