Meet our Executive Committee

Chris, this is your second term on the EEA Exec Committee. What do you consider is the unique value the EEA brings to the sector?

Our industry is experiencing a significant amount of change with new technologies, decarbonisation, climate change, covid impacts, a changing workforce and global economic impacts, to name just a few.?This has resulted in many new players entering our industry, big and small, with differing levels of knowledge and experience, of our power system.?? The EEA’s unique position allows it to broker and facilitate the technical aspects that will support new and existing participants innovate to support us to decarbonise our power system and our country.

What motivated you to want to step forward for an EEA committee role and what change are you hoping to achieve?

I have had experience working in generation, transmission, distribution, retailing, wholesaling, and regulatory entities, and I am keen to bring this broad experience to support the membership.? We have a big challenge ahead of us as an industry and the EEA has a critical role in supporting the industry to deliver on a net-zero carbon future.

What are the greatest challenges our members face in meeting the objectives of the EEA 2050 transformation strategy and how might we overcome these?

We are seeing a blurring of the traditional lines between generation, transmission, distribution and consumption.? We’re also seeing consumers become generators so our EEA membership must evolve too. We need to collaborate in different ways to orchestrate this technology change and that will push many of us out of our comfort zones.?The EEA’s opportunity is to continue to focus on relationships and member services to help ensure we have a diverse and broad representation across the entire industry so we can meet the challenges ahead.

You’re with Meridian. How has the generation side of things changed over time? What is different about the environment you operate in from ‘then’ to ‘now’?

I’ve been with Meridian 24 years and have seen a lot of change.?Particularly interesting has been the integration of large amounts of wind generation. In the beginning, many in the industry felt we were stepping into the unknown, but over time we’ve adapted and today wind is a key part of our generation mix.? We are now going through the same process with solar, DER and other technologies. I am confident that the industry will again get more comfortable as we evolve our thinking and adapt our approach.?

From what we hear, your enthusiasm for the sector crosses over into your personal life as well.? Tell us more!

A passion of mine is cycling. Earlier this year I took on the Tour Aotearoa – riding the length of the country via lots of back roads, cycle routes, beaches and gravel.?? It took me passed a lot of our power system assets that were built over the last century and I marvelled at what we have achieved.? I mapped my progress on the journey via the changing company logos that appeared on vehicles; from Top Energy, to Northpower, to Vector, to Counties Power and so on!? Passing hydro power stations, wind farms, and cycling alongside numerous transmission lines really bought it home to me just how integrated our system has become. Our highly renewable system we have today is the envy of the world. I’ve no doubt that we will see an even bigger evolution in the few decades to come. It’s exciting to be a part of it.