Power cut affects businesses, homes in Newmarket, Parnell, biotech company hit mid-experiment

Power has been cut to a large block in the centre of Auckland affecting businesses and a landmark Auckland destination.

Parts of Newmarket and Parnell were without electricity for nearly two hours when a fault struck at 11am.

A Vector spokesperson said by 12.50pm all power had been restored.

The Vector outage map showed an unplanned outage stretching from Kyhber Pass across to the Domain and Grafton Rd, affecting homes and businesses in Newmarket and Parnell.

A map showing the spread of the unplanned outage in Auckland. Image / Vector

At 11.30am, a Vector spokesperson said crews were in the area investigating the cause of the outage.

“Not all faults are easy to locate, and sometimes it can take a while to find the problem,” they said.

“If we’re able to re-route electricity from another direction, then we may be able to restore some properties before the estimated restoration time.”

The Herald understands the outage affected the Auckland Museum, with staff asked to go home for the day.

Auckland Council has been approached for comment.

Auckland University’s Newmarket campus was also without power for about an hour this morning, causing significant disruptions for a biotech company utilising rented space.

Opo Bio chief executive officer Olivia Ogilvie, a company that uses private equipment in a rented space at the university, said two power cuts since Friday had been frustrating for the company.

Opo Bio’s work involves the development of cell lines, which relies heavily on incubators and other sensitive equipment with the outages having the potential to cause considerable setbacks.

“There’s the potential that we could lose lots of work, but it’s also just a big inconvenience. A lot of time and resources are lost in the middle of the day.”

“It’s completely unplanned, which is even more frustrating.”

Ogilvie said Friday’s outage occurred around 3pm and came back on around four hours later.

“We had staff waiting on-site that whole period because they said it was going to be back between 5.30 and 6.30 ... We let people hang around to put all the equipment back online, but it’s definitely a big resource sink.”

“When the power is out, there’s nothing we can do.”

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