Planning the next decade
Investing in infrastructure, Northpower is planning $414 million in upgrades and new assets to support growth in Kaipara and Whangārei.
Annual Report 2026
27 May 2026
Handling two-way power flows on our network
Over the last five years, Northpower has continued to invest in modernising and strengthening our network operational system, the Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS). This investment helps support the growing use of new technologies across our communities, including wind farms, solar farms, rooftop solar, batteries, and other distributed energy solutions.
The improvements made to our systems are helping customers make better use of new energy technologies while also allowing Northpower to get more value and capacity from our existing network assets. This helps us continue to provide a reliable and efficient electricity supply as energy use across our network changes.
Enhancements completed during this period include improved network modelling, forecasting, telemetry, and switching support, giving us greater real-time visibility of power flows across the network. We have also upgraded the operating systems, databases, and core ADMS applications to improve performance, reliability, and scalability.
The platform has been designed to be cyber secure and to integrate into a modern operating environment with more streamlined and paperless processes. These improvements provide more accurate near real-time information, faster operational response, and better customer access to network information through our website.
These investments have also positioned Northpower to better manage the increasing complexity of two-way power flows, network congestion, and future Distribution System Operations (DSO) requirements as more distributed energy resources connect to the network.
As part of this ongoing work, Northpower is currently implementing an Adaptive Network Management solution to increase hosting capacity for solar farms and other distributed generation in more constrained areas of the network.
More resilient network case studies and articles...
Faster detection of fallen lines
Using smart meter data, Northpower enhances network visibility to quickly detect fallen power lines, improving safety and response times.
Stay Safe Together campaign with Mitre 10 MEGA
Partnering with Mitre 10 MEGA Whangārei, Northpower expanded its Stay Safe Together campaign, embedding safety messaging into everyday customer experiences.
