EEA Electricity Engineers' Association

Rodger Griffiths

Rodger is a professional engineer, graduating with a Bachelor of Engineering from Auckland University in 1982.  Rodger has worked with Westpower, a distribution company on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand, since graduating university.  He currently holds the position of General Manager - Generation and Technology, overseeing the management and performance of Westpower’s generation assets.

Rodger has a special interest in hydro generation and was closely involved with the design and construction of the 7 megawatt Amethyst Hydro Electric Schemes commissioned in 2013.  He is currently working on opportunities and challenges involved with emerging penetration of distributed energy resources (DER) into distribution networks.  This includes developing technology that can maximise the value of demand side flexibility for the benefit of consumer and DER owners, while helping to protect the stability of the power grid.

Throughout his career Rodger has been involved with many aspects of power system design and construction in the generation, transmission, and distribution sections of the New Zealand power industry.  He continues to play an active role in promoting innovative solutions for the power industry, both within his company and for external clients.

Matt Smith

Matt is a Policy Advisor in Strategic Planning where he supports Vector’s Symphony strategy.  Symphony is creating a system for their customers that fits the future, transforming the traditional poles and wires of the electricity networks serving the Auckland region into an intelligent energy system where customers have more choice and control.

Prior to joining Vector, Matt managed the Emerging Technologies Program at San Diego Gas & Electric for six years, where he supported field demonstrations of demand response and energy efficiency technologies and had several projects utilising OpenADR as the communications protocol.

Lingsong Zheng

Lingsong is the Distribution Systems Operator (DSO) Manager from WEL Networks,  managing the planning, engineering, project delivery, and operational support functions in providing non-network solutions.  Prior to this, he worked for Wellington Electricity, in the role of engineering and planning manager and before that he worked for Aurora Energy based in Dunedin, leading the secondary assets team.

Russell Watson

Russell is currently the Principal Engineer at Northpower.  He has been in the electricity distribution industry for 39 years, working on both high voltage and low voltage networks in a number of engineering and engineering management roles.  He is is a member of the EEA  Asset Management Group and has been and continues to be involved in a number of EEA technical working groups.

Russell has specific EV expertise and was a member of the technical working group writing the 2^nd addition of WorkSafe’s EV Charging Guidelines and Standards NZ PAS 6010 & 6011 for EV charging.

Terry Paddy

Terry is the Managing Director of Cortexo, a New Zealand software company that provides monitoring, control, and data services in the electricity sector.  Cortexo is a member of the OpenADR Alliance and actively contributes to the international working group updating the specification.

Terry is a founding member of the industry group FlexForum, and is a member of the Electricity Authority’s Innovation and Participation Advisory Group (IPAG).  He also serves on the advisory board for Sustainable Energy Association of New Zealand (SEANZ).

Sharee McNab

Sharee is a Senior Research Engineer at the Electric Power Engineering Centre (EPECentre) at the University of Canterbury (UC).  Her research interests lie in renewable energy modelling including the impacts of distributed technologies such as solar and electric vehicles on low voltage power grids. 

Energy transition is an additional research interest and Sharee coordinates the Transition Engineering micro-credentials at UC.  Previous roles include Systems Requirements Engineer at Allied Telesis, and Research Staff Member at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research facility.

Evie Trolove

Evie is the Energy Futures Programme Manager at Orion Group where she leads the development of strategic programmes and projects to support the energy transition.  Her expertise includes flexibility market development, customer-centric innovation, and electrification of transport.  

While recently based in the United Kingdom, Evie managed a portfolio of collaborative projects to enable flexibility services through smart electric vehicle charging and vehicle-to-grid.

Michael Richardson – Flexibility Services Manager, Transpower

Leading in the field since 2009, Michael is a pioneer of automated demand response bringing a wealth of experience from North American electricity markets, including the pivotal implementation of AutoDR while he was at Honeywell in California.  This was adopted by the industry to become OpenADR, now a global demand response standard.

Originally from Sydney, Michael joined Transpower in 2017 to head-up the demand response programme leveraging his experience in the United States of America to bring a new level of control capability to their platform, FlexPoint™.   During this time their programme grew from 120 mega watts to 230+ mega watts and focused on testing market critical parameters including automated DR, and post-contingent battery performance.

Ron Beatty - Consultant / Contractor

Ron Beatty is a private consultant / contractor working in the electricity industry, with particular emphasis on electricity market processes and systems, regulation, and the adoption of new technology into the electricity industry.   Ron retired from full-time work after 50 years in the industry, in December 2021 to work on technology implementation in the industry.  In those 50 years’, Ron gained significant experience in the electricity industry that included design, manufacture, construction, operational management, and the electricity market (distribution, retail, generation, metering, settlement systems, and regulation).

Ron worked for the electricity regulator (Electricity Commission and then the Electricity Authority) for 15 years until his retirement.  His most recent position was Principal Adviser Market Services.  He specialised in complex technical issues, market operations, physical and financial settlements (which included the design and implementation of current systems), and industry training.  During his time in the industry, Ron worked in most developmental working groups and was actively involved in the development of most industry regulation, particularly the Electricity Industry Participation Code 2010.  Consequently, Ron has very detailed knowledge on electricity industry operations, most regulatory requirements, and electricity industry standards.

Stuart Johnston, Principal Advisor - Engineering and Technical, EEA

Stuart Johnston is a passionate energy and environmental thought leader with over 25 years’ experience spanning public and private sector organisations in Australia and internationally.  

His expertise includes a thorough understanding of the complexities of national policy development to aid the energy transition coupled with extensive experience in managing operational activities including asset management, OHSE systems, and auditing and compliance activities for electricity network companies.  Most recently Stuart has been working on Australia’s hydrogen initiatives and facilitating research between industry and research bodies across Australia on network transformation.  

Stuart has supported Australia’s work on Network Transformation, including engaging across all aspects of the industry adapting to new technologies, adjusting to changes in customer behaviour, and deploying innovative models to achieve effective improvements and enable systemic change.  Stuart has worked for Energy Networks Australia and Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).