Lyttelton line over the Port Hills upgrade
Lyttelton
Orion undertook a major project to increase the resilience of the Lyttelton’s electricity network on Wednesday 13 September 2017. Orion kept the power on while it completed this work, by bringing in two huge generators, plus back-up generators for the business area, so the community could continue to operate.
The project involved upgrading the power network servicing Lyttelton, Corsair Bay and Cass Bay to improve resilience and reliability for the area. Lyttelton’s power supply comes from the Heathcote substation and is fed on two overhead lines on one common set of poles traversing the Port Hills. The reliability of these lines was an issue in the past due to a combination of exposure to the environment and the proximity of the lines to each other.
Essentially, our upgrade involved spacing the lines on separate poles at the junction points in Heathcote and Lyttelton, so that when a fault occurs on one line, it can be safely repaired while the other line keeps the network operational.
For more details see our communications to residents:
Lyttelton powered by generators during upgrade - 22 August 2017
Lyttelton to go off-grid for a day - 4 September 2017
Lyttelton work successfully completed - 13 September 2017