northland chamber

Northland Chamber of Commerce reflects Transpowers concerns over Transmission line uprating.

The Northland Chamber of Commerce today reiterated the concern by Transpower over the recent appeals lodged to the environment court on Auckland City Council’s decision to approve Transpower’s resource consent to uprate the Henderson – Otahuhu transmission line during forced outages.

This line affects North Auckland and Northland Regional Transmission Security. The Northland Chamber and a group of Northland Stakeholders including Northpower and Regional Council recently made submissions in favour of upgrading the line capacity during forced outages.

The Henderson to Otahuhu line supplies West Auckland, the North Shore & Northland and is the only transmission line that connects North Auckland and Northland with areas further south. Transpower applied for resource consent to operate the line from 750 MVA per circuit to 986 MVA during forced outages and this was approved by the Auckland City Council last month.

“The Northland Chamber of Commerce strongly believes that the Auckland City Council decision to approve the resource consent application was correct, and it is in the best interest of the country that electricity supply to North Auckland and Northland is reliable and secure. “said Jeff Smith from the Northland Chamber of Commerce.

The Henderson – Otahuhu upgrade project is part of a larger ‘suite’ of enhancements to the National Grid in the Auckland region to ensure reliability and diversity of electricity supply into Auckland and Northland. It is vital that we are very pro-active in ensuring that Northland has transmission security and are prepared to support initiatives all the way to ensure that Northlands Power Supply is guaranteed now and for the future.’

For Example - Last Week Transpower submitted an investment proposal to the Electricity Commission to reinforce supply to North Auckland and Northland. The proposed $521 million project involves installing 37kms of 220 kV underground cable from Pakuranga to Penrose and then to Albany. It also allows for obtaining easements, consents and other preparatory work for a second cable between Penrose and Hobson Street in later years.