Electricity supply to Christchurch CBD secure 13 June 2006 Canterbury electricity distribution company Orion has confirmed that it is extremely unlikely that a single transmission fault like that witnessed in Auckland yesterday would cut power to the Christchurch central business district (CBD) for any significant period of time.
A fault at one grid exit point, Otahuhu, caused yesterday's lengthy electricity outage affecting 700,000 Auckland residents and businesses.
Orion confirms that the design of Christchurch's major transmission substation, Islington, separates key circuits feeding Christchurch, unlike the design of Otahuhu substation in Auckland. Also the Christchurch CBD is fed from two Transpower grid exit points at Addington and Bromley, unlike Auckland which is fed via a single substation at Otahuhu. This dual feed gives Christchurch increased flexibility of supply under fault conditions and means power supply can be restored quickly. Orion implemented its dual feed after the 1998 Auckland power crisis, which saw parts of Auckland lose power for over five weeks. Orion installed a high voltage cable from Transpower's substation at Bromley to a newly constructed Orion substation in the CBD. This two-year project was completed in 2001 at a cost of $13m. "By providing two alternative feeds into the CBD from the national grid, we are better able to handle emergencies and can reassure customers that it is extremely unlikely that power supply to the CBD would not be restored in good time under fault conditions" said Orion CEO, Roger Sutton.
"In the unlikely event that the Christchurch CBD did suffer an electricity outage, our businesses and hospitals are probably also better placed to handle the emergency than Auckland's. Because Orion's network pricing encourages the use of independent generators at peak network load times, well-maintained generators are located throughout the Christchurch CBD. These generators may prove invaluable during an emergency", said Mr Sutton. Orion's pricing structure for delivering electricity to major customers differs from that of other electricity distribution companies. It encourages major electricity users to generate their own electricity when there is heavy demand on the Orion network. As a result, large Christchurch businesses, hospitals and the police maintain independent generators which can run for long periods of time. Christchurch hospital has enough standby generation to enable all essential services to continue in the event of an electricity outage. For more information contact: Rob Jamieson
General Manager Commercial
Phone 0274 324 367, 03 363 9793
Email rob.jamieson@oriongroup.co.nz
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