New Zealand is one of the world’s leading renewable electricity systems. Our unique electricity system is built around a large amount of hydro generation, alongside growing wind and solar. Our long-established half-hourly electricity pricing system, known as nodal pricing, provides very strong signals about when renewable electricity is plentiful and when the system is under pressure. When the system is tight and emissions are high, electricity prices can rise to hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars per megawatt-hour. These price signals encourage users to reduce or shift their electricity use, reward generation that can respond when it is most needed, and create incentives to invest in new generation and flexibility.
For many other countries around the world that are starting from a very different point to New Zealand, there are growing global conversations about how to better support them in moving the dial faster. This includes more granular approaches to electricity procurement, including hourly matching and hourly-matched Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs*). These emerging approaches can create meaningful incentives in countries where price signals are weak or absent.
New Zealand is different.
We have already addressed some of the challenges other countries are now seeking to solve. We have already developed the large-scale hydro sites available to us, and our existing hydro system can adjust its output to work alongside new wind and solar generation, helping to reduce the need for thermal generation when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining. Hourly-matched EACs simply won’t have the same impact here.
As we work towards our aspiration of reaching 100% renewable electricity, we face a different set of challenges that other countries have not yet had to solve. To accelerate our renewable transition, we need solutions designed specifically for Aotearoa New Zealand. Simply importing an international approach will not deliver the outcomes we need.
We need a solution designed for New Zealand.
It is important to distinguish between hourly matching and hourly-matched EACs.
Hourly matching: Hourly matching does not require a separate hourly certificate for every MWh. Instead, monthly EACs can be combined with hourly production and consumption data – an approach recognised by EnergyTag and readily available in Aotearoa, with BraveTrace’s NZECS registry already monthly-matching 85% of its NZ-ECs (New Zealand Energy Certificates).
Hourly-matched EACs: For many other countries that lack granular market signals, we recognise that hourly-matched EACs can be a useful approach. In New Zealand’s already highly sophisticated system, however, hourly-matched EACs could actually create unintended negative consequences. They could:
- disincentivise new solar investment;
- disadvantage independent generators and developers;
- overlook the important role our existing hydro system plays in balancing new renewable generation;
- create a dilemma for companies wanting to support new solar and wind, as global standards favour newer generation that is harder to match hourly.
More fundamentally, granular matching focuses on matching renewable generation to individual corporate users’ consumption, when the challenge is optimising generation against the needs of the electricity system as a whole. The latest version of the SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0 (June 2026) reflects this broader system-level perspective. It does not require energy certificates to be hourly matched. It requires companies to use instruments from programmes or frameworks that demonstrate decarbonisation of the relevant electricity system (Criterion C27.5: System-level impact). For companies with significant electricity use (10 GWh or more per year), it also requires them to calculate and report the percentage of their electricity consumption that is contracted or matched with low-carbon electricity on an hourly basis (Criterion CNZS-C32: Scope 2 hourly matching). BraveTrace has developed a framework to support companies with calculating and reporting their Scope 2 hourly-matching percentage. Please contact us if you are interested.
Most importantly, granular matching focuses attention on the high-emission periods when essential thermal generation is running and is very difficult to displace. The reality is that, to reach 95% renewable electricity on an annual average basis as a step towards our 100% aspiration, we need first to address the non-essential fossil-fuel generation that continues to run during periods when the system already has plenty of renewable electricity available. In other words, we need to look at the challenge from the other direction!
We can do better.
Let’s focus on Aotearoa New Zealand’s distinctive challenges. How can we accelerate new wind, solar and geothermal investment to get us to 95% renewable as quickly as possible? How can we displace the thermal generation that is still running during low-emission periods? How can we reflect the current ability of our existing hydro system to prevent solar and wind spill? How can we identify when the flexibility of that system starts to be stretched? And how can we assure energy users that their purchases are creating meaningful system impact in Aotearoa?
These are uniquely New Zealand questions and they deserve a uniquely New Zealand solution. Our proposed response is BraveTrace ImpactAccelerator-NZ, a custom solution designed to help accelerate New Zealand’s renewable energy transition by maximising its system-wide impact. Watch this space!
* Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs) are known by different names in different markets. For example, RECs in North America, GOs in Europe, and NZ-ECs in New Zealand.