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Electricity link gets the nod - Tuesday July 27, 2010

IMPROVEMENTS: Top Energy chief executive Russell Shaw holds a piece of 110,000-volt electricity transmission cable.

The Electricity Commission has approved Top Energy's plans to install a second high-voltage link between Kaikohe and Kaitaia, which will end blackouts experienced when the sole power supply line to areas north of the Maungataniwha Ranges is severed.
Construction of the second 110,000-volt line following existing Top Energy lines around the east coast from Waipapa to Awanui _ rather than over the ranges like the present connection _ will take up to five years to complete and cost an estimated $28 million.
But Top Energy chief executive Russell Shaw said yesterday taking the east coast route meant the levy the Far North electricity generation and lines network company expected to impose on each of its 31,000 customers to cover project costs had been reduced from $6 to $1.30 a month.
"If the new line were to follow the existing Transpower line, Kaitaia power consumers would be the only ones in the Far North to benefit and we would have to build an additional second 33,000-volt line to meet load growth on the east coast," he said. "A coastal 110,000-volt line will benefit consumers living in the Bay of Islands and up the eastern seaboard, including Taipa and the Karikari peninsula."
"Despite the present Kaikohe-Kaitaia line route being 90 kilometres long and the east coast route being 130 kilometres, the higher voltage coastal route allows us to cancel the 33,000-volt line build, resulting in an overall saving of $10 million. In essence we build one new line, not two"
The coast route would also reduce the risk of loss of supply as there would be two geographically separated supply circuits.
Alternative supply on the coast would stop blackouts like the one which took place when an accident during maintenance on the present high-voltage line in February cut power to 15,000 homes and businesses from Hokianga north for around five hours.
The new transmission line will be carried on concrete poles up to six metres taller than the standard 12-metre concrete poles now in use in the Far North.
Mr Shaw said insulators on the taller poles would be larger than those now in use.
He emphasised the new Far North line would not need the big towers which have caused controversy over extensions of the national grid further south.
The owners of land on the route of the new line would be consulted and installation would be carried out with a minimum of inconvenience to them, Mr Shaw said.
The new transmission line is part of a Top Energy investment of more than $240 million in improving its network assets, which includes doubling the length of its sub-transmission network and moving from 10 to 18 zone substations.
The investment programme includes Top Energy working with Transpower to replace aging transformers at Kaitaia, where work on the new substation is expected to be completed around July next year.
Top Energy's application to the Electricity Commission to allow construction of the new line received strong support from the Far North District Council, the Northland Regional Council, Transpower and Farmers of New Zealand.
"We had to prove that customers wanted a new line," Mr Shaw said. "Typically, consumers want new lines but don't want to pay for them."
"We carried out a customer survey in the Kaitaia area which found that the majority of consumers were prepared to pay $6 a month or more for the new line. It's great to be able to deliver this alternative at a much lower cost."
Transpower chief executive Patrick Strange said: "The leadership shown by Top Energy has been great and the solution should secure a reliable supply in the Far North for decades to come."