Minister of Energy and Resources to open Downstream tomorrow

PRESS RELEASE

March 3, 2015

Minister of Energy and Resources to open Downstream tomorrow

The energy sector’s annual 2-day conference ‘Downstream’ is being held in Auckland tomorrow, at the SkyCity Convention Centre in Auckland.

Over 330 delegates are registered to attend and the conference will be opened by the Minister of Energy and Resources, Hon. Simon Bridges.

The big issues facing the sector will all be discussed.

Sector chief executives Alison Andrew – Transpower, Mark Binns - Meridian Energy, Albert Brantley - Genesis Energy, Carl Hansen - Electricity Authority, Vince Hawksworth – Trustpower, and Fraser Whineray - Mighty River Power, will all take part in a high-level leaders’ panel discussion on the subject of adding consumer value as the sector moves away from its era of large capital project delivery towards a focus on consumers. New technologies, multi-utility offerings and retail competition will all be on the agenda.

Another hot subject in the sector is low-income and vulnerable consumers. An Australian-based academic Dr. Lynne Chester from the University of Sydney is speaking at Downstream on this subject and in particular on the impact of demand management and smart technologies. Local industry will then discuss Chester’s findings in a panel following the speech

The event’s diamond sponsor is Gentrack and the gold sponsors are PwC and Stellar Consulting. Founding sponsors include the Commerce Commission, Transpower, the Electricity Authority and the Gas Industry Company. Other features of the event include a trade exhibition, and half-day Network Managers’ Forum.

The gala dinner is being sponsored by Jade Software and the speaker is New Zealand Olympian and America’s Cup sailor Rob Waddell

More information may be found at www.nzdownstream.co.nz . Downstream is run as a joint venture between Energy News and Conferenz.

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