ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Looming Powercrisis in New Zealand

George, even though it would only take a handful of marines to successfully invade NZ, I don't know if you guys can spare them.

I suppose a bit of friendly friction between two tiny islands in the south pacific IS pretty trivial though.

{Message edited to remove political content}

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 03-20-2006).]

Here's another story from Stuff .

Guys, please lets not get into a political slanging match here.

After reading that article. I have to say that expecting the North Island consumers to pay for the Cook Strait HVDC link is unrealistic. If Meridian & Co. want to sell power up in the North Island then they have to pay to get the power up there. After all, 75% of NZ's power consumers are in the North Island.

Without electricity the North Island couldn't provide us with "Beehive-cam", "Shortland Street" and footage of their losing rugby team. So we need to ensure they have enough electricity to keep us in laughs.

The news tonight is saying the electricity commission is telling Transpower that they haven't explored all the options alternative to the Waikato pylons.

If Transpower are forced to carry out futile feasibility studies then it's just going to cost the consumer ( tax-payer ) more money.

The electricity commission was supposed to save us money!

Well today we had our first big power outage in West Auckland.
Everything was out for up to 2½ hours from Avondale to Henderson, probably 15000 + customers affected.
Transpower Hepburn went down because of overload. and we lost 6 substations around 100 MW load.
Transpower Hepburn is feed from a 110kV double circuit line, and one circuit was out for maintenance since yesterday.
Around 10.30 hrs monday morning, overload on the other 110kV line caused a full outage.
I went to Te Atatu sub which is fed from Transpower Henderson and we tried to tie in the 33kV from there.
At one stage the load on a double 33 kV line was nearing 500 Amps on each circuit.
The lines sagged that much that some trees caught fire and got a free tree trim today and are a bit shorter.
Other contractors got an open point 110 kV line back in and things were restored to normal at ± 1300hrs.
It is interesting to notice that with all the extra increases in load on existing older lines maintenance is becoming more and more difficult.
Interesting times ahead to look forward too.
Temperatures in Auckland were around 23°C. So see what happens with a bit colder weather. I keep you posted.
Regards Ray

Ray,
That is not a very good sign at all mate.
It sounds like the Grid is in the second stage of melt-down.
North or South Island.
Ask the greenies how we fix that?.
If the Grid fails, I guess they get thier wish, but how will they e-mail Nandor with thier laptops?.
Idiots.

Sorry Ray,
I missed your lower comment.
Line maintenance is made more difficult by idiots that refuse to have Transpower or thier Contractors crews or vehicles on thier land.
Now, call me an idiot or an imbecile, but if you can't maintain your own gear, who is to blame if an insulator junction fails?.
Of course, it's TransPower, they own the lines!.
Trans-Power killed all my cattle, I can see it now and wouldn't our media love that.
Trial without a jury or a judge.

One other thing Ray,
Not long after I was certified as a Lines Pilot (EHV Rotary Wing), I was sent up to the Southern part of the Waikato, to do joint tests on the excisting(sp) lines.
Myself and Roddie (the technician) had stones and various other things hurled at the aircraft.
We were bloody lucky to survive that.
Sure, put a chopper into some 220kV lines, kill 2 people, but bring down the whole Grid at the same time.
Good thinking.
Helicopters and power lines mix like flames and LPG cylinders.

At least the joints on the old double circuit 33 kV line held while nearly carrying twice their design current to keep te Atatu, mc Leod and Waiakaukau going during the crisis.
The new Te Atatu sub. 33 kV bussection was designed for 630 Amps so that was within it's limits.
The news media keeps awfully quite about it for the moment.

Oddly enough Ray,
There were quite a few crews working around the country here on Line joints alone.
I personally think mate, we are in deep trouble when you have a chopper crew @$5000 a day checking joints, every 6 months.
That money should be put into building a better Grid, I don't care what anyone says.
If we can't get rain here mate, I think nuclear is the only option we really have.
Anyone from NZ agree/disagree?.
Regardless of where, it's going to be in the South Island.
It's a question of when.
My own opinion, we should have gone nuclear years ago.
This overly-precious image that we are trying to portray to the world wore out years ago.
How does it look now that we are running out of energy?.
Cut off our nose to spite our face?.
Sure, we may not need a nuclear plant in the South Island, but I would like to see the North Island be Self-sufficient as far as energy goes, not leeching off and getting a cheaper deal than what us South Island customers do.
I would like to see the North Islanders foot the full bill for thier electricity.
There should be no need whatsoever in these modern times, for us to send power to the North Island.
This isn't the 1950's.
When it was installed, the HVDC link was installed to take up the slack from what the North Island couldn't provide in 1961, now it is supplying most of the power to the North Island, the only real competitor being the Huntly (Coal-fired) station, which has been charged with killing fish and bird life in the Waikato river, due to the water temperature rise.
Decide for yourself.