Massey University - Improving energy visibility and efficiency across a major university campus

Modernising revenue and power quality monitoring across New Zealand’s transmission network.

Industry

Univeristy

Coverage

3 campuses

Install base

120+ meters

Results

~500,000 kWh saved

Massey University is one of New Zealand’s largest universities, with campuses in Palmerston North, Wellington, and Auckland. With a large and diverse estate to manage, the university needed a better way to understand where energy was being used, where it was being wasted, and where improvements could be made.

Quasar Systems delivered an advanced energy monitoring solution that gave the Estates team the real-time insight they needed to take control of energy performance across the Palmerston North campus, with the platform designed to scale over time.

Electric control panel with multiple digital meters inside a grey metal enclosure with glass doors.

The Challenge

Managing energy across a large university campus is complex. At Palmerston North alone, Massey operates its own 11kV network with extensive electrical infrastructure and more than 13MW of installed capacity.

Before Quasar’s involvement, the university had limited visibility of how and where energy was being consumed, relying largely on monthly electricity accounts rather than live operational data.

That lack of visibility made it difficult to:

identify high-consumption areas
respond quickly to outages or issues
measure the impact of efficiency initiatives
make informed decisions around heating, cooling, and broader energy use

Industrial electrical control panels with switches, indicator lights, and multiple connected devices on a wall.

The Solution

Quasar Systems implemented Schneider Electric EcoStruxure Power Monitoring Expert (PME) to give Massey University real-time access to actionable energy data. The initial deployment included more than 120 meters installed across the Palmerston North campus, creating a much more detailed picture of energy usage at site level.

By combining Schneider metering with PME software, Quasar enabled Massey’s team to: