The recent 7.8
magnitude quake and series of aftershocks that have so drastically impacted the
communities of North Canterbury serve as a harsh reminder of the benefits of
foresight when it comes to investing in our own infrastructure assets.
After six
years of earthquake recovery and rebuild, the city is in good shape to
withstand the impact of future seismic events. We live in a seismic environment.
It is for this reason that we must continue to invest in the resilience of key
infrastructure that allows us to get on with our lives, and growing a thriving
and vibrant economy.
Our
electricity network is one of those critical fundamentals. It is also a great
example of where foresight prepared the city well for some of its darkest days.
Power was restored to the majority of the city very quickly after the February
2011 quake because of decades of prudent smart planning, investment and timely
maintenance.
Although
systems performed well there are still lessons to be learned. Orion openly
states that its principle objective following the earthquakes has been to
restore resilience to the network and reliability of power supply to our wider
Christchurch community by 2019. That involves several significant projects –
the 66,000 volt ‘northern loop’ cable project is one, as well as improvements
to the supply to Lyttelton and the surrounding bays.
In working
towards this goal Orion has approached the recovery and rebuild of the city in
a disciplined and collaborative way. It is working with business, industry and
community groups to ensure that in future events the network is resilient and
flexible. The ability to reroute electricity flow away from damaged circuits to
other, undamaged, parts of the network is critical to keeping the network
working.
The recently
completed northern loop project was five years in the delivery and is one of Orion’s
largest ever projects. It is effectively a super highway solely dedicated to
the effective distribution of power around and across the city. This will have
a major positive impact on protecting our communities and businesses. It will also provide a strong
foundation to support new technologies such as solar, battery storage and
electric vehicles.
Recently
there has been concern about interruptions to the electricity supply to the Lyttelton
area. Lyttelton and surrounding areas are vital parts of our community fabric, and
the port is critical to the success of our local economy. Improving the surety
of power supply to and in the Lyttelton area is therefore a priority. Orion has been working on this issue for some
time, but it’s not a quick fix and the investment required is significant.
The power
supply to this area comes from the Heathcote Valley substation via two overhead
lines that that share a common set of poles. This is tough terrain and a harsh climatic environment so there’ll be
risk of power outages from time to time.
The best and
most cost-effective way to improve the reliability of power supply to Lyttelton
is to run a separate cable through the Lyttelton tunnel, which would then
provide an additional source of power. But this requires NZTA approval because it
owns the tunnel.
I understand
Orion has been in conversation with NZTA for some time now and an agreement is
not too far away. In the meantime, Orion has invested more than $1.5 million as
a first step to improving the resilience of the Lyttelton network. This
includes significant work on substation relocation and renewal.
Preparatory
work has set the Lyttelton network up to receive the planned cable through the
tunnel. Once an access agreement is finalised, phase two of the Lyttelton
Project will commence with the installation of the cable through the tunnel,
which should be completed within 24 months.
Further work is underway and more is scheduled
on the two existing overhead lines into Lyttelton to improve the reliability of
power supply in the interim.
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