Work being done to increase electricity supply to Hawke’s Bay
Work is being done this weekend to return part of the flood-damaged Redclyffe substation to service, to help improve the security of the electricity supply to Hawke’s Bay.
Unison is working alongside Transpower on the project.
Transpower has been working to clean and repair equipment, including the interconnector transformer and its control equipment, at its Redclyffe substation after it was damaged by flooding following Cyclone Gabrielle. Interconnectors connect the regional 110,000 volt transmission network to the 220,000 national grid, increasing resilience, security of supply, and helping to meet peak demand.
Unison has been preparing its network to take advantage of this and use the increase in available transmission supply to put its network into a more secure configuration that better balances supply and demand across the distribution network.
Unison’s Incident Controller and GM for Commercial Jason Larkin says, “The work our control room staff and field crews are doing alongside Transpower this weekend will essentially allow us to plug back into the backbone of the national grid, meaning we can ensure a more resilient, secure supply of energy into Hawke’s Bay.
“We know it’s been tough for businesses and the community to cope with the limited electricity supply coming into Napier, and occasional outages. This essential repair work will go a long way to making more supply available to the areas that need it most and reducing the likelihood of unplanned outages.”
Unison advises this work will cause a power outage in Napier for up to an hour from 3.30am this Sunday 12 March, while the network is reconfigured.
“Unfortunately, Napier will experience an outage so we can safely complete this work. We’re keenly aware of the impact these outages have on our customers and the livelihoods of businesses, even in the early hours. We thank all our customers for their understanding and patience while we undertake these repairs”, says Mr Larkin.
“While this is a major step forward in restoring a resilient transmission supply to the region, we are still some way off having supply fully restored to the state it was prior to Cyclone Gabrielle. Transpower is working hard to continue to restore equipment that will build additional resilience to the supply over the next 3 months, which will add much needed security ahead of winter.”
Following completion of this weekend’s work, Unison will no longer be asking customers to conserve power. However, further short outages can still be expected as Unison works to reconfigure the network from time to time, to manage supply and demand until transmission supply is fully restored.
As power restoration efforts progress, Unison continues urging anyone working around electricity lines or using plant and machinery as part of the Cyclone Gabrielle clean up, to assume all lines and assets are live, be aware and stay safe around electricity.
Due to flooding, ground contours have changed in many areas, and there is damage to lines, poles and other network assets. The presence of electrical assets may not be immediately apparent.
“We urge anyone working in the clean up – particularly contractors, farmers, orchardists, and anyone using tools or equipment like diggers, tip trucks, forklifts and so on – to be highly aware of any electrical assets below ground or above, and to treat all electrical assets as live”, says Mr Larkin
Unison encourages customers to request a cable location service before starting digging or excavation work to know what's under the ground, and to request a permit if any clean-up work will put a person, equipment or vehicles within four metres of a power line. Both can be requested via Unison’s website.
As of Saturday morning, Unison is providing generation to 663 households that are unable to be reconnected to the network due to extensive cyclone damage, to meet their essential welfare needs; and 900 customers remain without power in the region, mostly in isolated rural areas.
