Firms told to plan for power

POWERING UP: A new transformer is lowered into place at Wanganui's Taupo Quay substation early last year.PHOTO/BEVAN CONLEY 270312WCBRCTR04

Smarter planning and understanding how power supplies are managed need to be key considerations for anyone setting up or extending their business.

That was the message spelled out at a Powerco workshop for major Wanganui users and commercial operators and district council representatives in New Plymouth recently.

The workshop which looked at Powerco's infrastructure planning process, was given a rundown on Powerco policy and customer dollar input needed for customer-initiated works, and also given background information on the power sector.

Wanganui District Council economic development manager Allan MacGibbon said some people held the view they could set up a business anywhere "but the point is you need to check with power suppliers first".

Mr MacGibbon said changes to the country's power supply business meant Powerco's influence covered the Wanganui, Taranaki and Bay of Plenty regions. "In the majority of cases, when changes came to the supply industry most of the network providers who took over rural networks in particular, inherited a pretty shonky system. What Powerco has been working on is trying to get better security for that system," he said.

"Power lines are like a pipe. They start off nice and thick, but as they go further down the road they become thinner. That's an issue in the country areas because the further down the road you go, you haven't got as much power. So someone buying some prime flat land for a dairy conversion at the end of a rural road all of a sudden has a massive power requirement, so they are expected to pay for some of the cost of getting the power. That's usually the case within the city as well," Mr MacGibbon said.

He said people thought that whatever power they needed would be available at their front door but that was not always the case.

Wanganui city was in a unique position because it was served by two substations (Brunswick and Fordell) with one feeding one part of the city and the other supplying the other side. The power voltage - coming from Transpower's national grid - is "pushed down" before it gets to consumers through a series of substations making that adjustment. Five substations are regarded as critical - one on Taupo Quay near the Union Boat Club, another further along Taupo Quay, a third at Beach Rd, the fourth in Castlecliff and the fifth in Peat St, all servicing the city's industrial hubs.

Mr MacGibbon said Powerco wanted to ensure there were alternative sources of supply to maintain those critical industries and that was via a loop line, so if power went out from one substation a new feed could be provided from a substation at the other end.

"And Powerco is also working at having two transformers at each substation, so if one fails the other can provide the feed. For quite a long time we've had just one transformer in each of those substations," he said.

The latest to be completed was on Taupo Quay next to the boat club while Beach Rd was the next to be tackled. "What it means is a better security of supply and that's fundamental to Powerco's planning," he said.

"The point is Wanganui has got plenty of power. There's definitely no shortage and what Powerco is doing is enhancing the system to make it more secure, particularly for industry and they're doing that by putting these alternative feeds in place."

But Mr MacGibbon said people needed to understand if they decided to set up home or business with an expectation they were going to get all the power they needed "they might be lucky and be sitting next to a big line".

"Equally they could be hundreds of metres away so they will have to pay all the cost, or a proportion of the cost, to secure that supply. The more isolated the higher the cost."

He said in terms of Powerco's annual planning, Wanganui had been on the top of that list for quite a while.

He said Powerco's assurance was that while there is plenty of power, but it may not always be available where you want it, there are solutions.

"But it's vital for people to realise that if there's no power where they are it will cost to get it delivered and the further you are away from the supply the more it will cost. And if you are a major user then it will cost you even more. It needs to be part of anyone's planning. Remember, supply is about demand."

But Mr MacGibbon said Powerco's upgrade programme in Wanganui was a huge benefit.

"At Castlecliff they've put in two transformers and for places like Mars and Land Meats that's a major improvement. Mars have told us that before, they could have outages for a couple of hours, but with a second one in place outages last only a few minutes," he said.