Transpower: Power cut risk has passed

Tuesday, 17 August 2021

Transpower issued its warning at 4.23pm, which was 37 minutes before the start of the period of concern.

Transpower says the risk of a power outage on Tuesday evening has passed, with more generation offered and demand having dropped.

It had warned there could be power cuts in the North Island after a power line carrying power north fell down near Waikari in North Canterbury.

But at 7.30pm it said the risk had passed, barring a major plant failure.

“We are not aware of any ‘lights out’ except for those around the area where the conductor fell. This information is on the Mainpower website,” it said in a statement.

“Following our grid emergency notice, we approached generators requesting more generation and they responded. We asked electricity distribution businesses in the North Island to reduce all controllable demand, such as hot water, and they responded.

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“Provided circumstances do not change, we do not expect an issue for the morning peak tomorrow.”

The red emergency notice was similar to one Transpower issued at 5.10pm on Monday last week, hours before it was forced to order rolling power cuts that cut off 34,500 homes from power without warning.

Transpower chief executive Alison Andrew said Tuesday's problems had been caused by a conducting wire falling from a tower near State Highway 7 in the Weka Pass area of Waikari.

There was no indication anyone had been hurt, she said.

Genesis announced it had responded to Transpower’s call by ramping up two of its coal-burning Rankine turbines, which had been idle, at its Huntly power station.

Those should provide significant extra generation by Wednesday morning to help get through the morning peak period. Genesis was also squeezing a bit more power out of the one Rankine turbine that had been operating on Tuesday.

Andrew said Transpower had crews on hand who would be working overnight to repair the conductor, but it did not expect to complete repairs before “tomorrow [Wednesday] afternoon at the earliest”.

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said there had been a good response from generators and the industry more broadly. He had been told all available generation had been brought online, he said.

Woods announced the terms of reference of an investigation into last week’s power cuts earlier on Tuesday, which included calling for recommendations on how to avoid a repeat.