The Authority has proposed that the system operator make low cost administrative changes to take greater account of the reserve sharing across the HVDC link. These changes would benefit consumers because the system operator would be able to procure less fast instantaneous reserve in each island, increasing competition between providers and lowering costs.

The Authority has considered submissions on the information paper ‘Interim arrangements for enhanced inter-island reserve sharing’ and decided to ask the system operator to implement changes outlined in the information paper. The system operator plans to implement the changes on 17 December 2014.