New Plymouth substation to be closed
New Zealand, New Plymouth: Transpower confirms closing a substation and removing 2.5 km of high voltage lines and pylons near Port Taranaki.
New Zealand
New Zealand, New Plymouth: Transpower confirms closing a substation and removing 2.5 km of high voltage lines and pylons near Port Taranaki.
Two 110 kV and 220 kV power lines currently span a connection area from a substation near the port to Spotswood, south west of the city centre. The substation will close and the lines, which connect to Transpower’s Carrington St substation, will initially be temporarily connected just outside port land.
Transpower’s decision to move the permanent connection further south, near the existing Tank Farm, meant the remainder of the Carrington St to New Plymouth line needed to be removed, Transpower general manager delivery Mark Ryall said in an emailed release.
Transpower owns and operates New Zealand’s high voltage electricity transmission network.
The company’s decision comes after public consultation in late 2019 where five options were put forward for Transpower to leave the Port Taranaki site and maintain secure transmission supply to New Plymouth and North Taranaki.
Among those five, Option 2 was chosen. “It means removing around 2.5km of transmission line for the addition of only a small amount of new transmission line because the two lines are quite close at this point,“ Ryall said.
Transpower will start completing the design, and obtaining necessary property and environmental rights to undertake the work, he said.
“The remaining sections of the larger Stratford to New Plymouth line, that lies closer to the coast, will also be removed after we make the new connection if no party has committed to a development proposal requiring the connection,“ he added.
“The future of the second line from the new connection point to Port Taranaki is still to be determined, ” he said.
“The line needs significant ongoing maintenance so without commitment of a proponent shortly it will be dismantled.”
The project is expected to be completed by 2024.
Source: Stuff