Possible power cuts: Transpower CEO eases concerns of outages ...
As a cold snap sweeps the country, Kiwis have been urged to pull the plug on power consumption - but now, Transpower's CEO has eased concerns of possible outages.
On Thursday, the national grid operator warned of a potential shortfall in electricity supply between 7am and 9am due to the unseasonably cold conditions and low wind generation. Kiwis were urged to conserve electricity and reduce their usage in a bid to avoid possible cuts amid the cold on Friday.
Providing an update on AM shortly after 7am, Transpower CEO Alison Andrew confirmed the situation was now looking "comfortable".
She noted that dropped load by the industrial sector had helped conservation efforts, as well as households heeding Thursday's warning.
"Right now we're feeling comfortable we won't need to shed any load this morning," Andrew told AM's Melissa Chan-Green.
She confirmed Kiwis were able to use their heaters amid the freezing conditions on Friday morning, with temperatures plummeting as low as -8C in St Arnaud, -6C in Christchurch and -5C in Taumarunui at around 5am.
"We want people to stay warm and stay safe," she said. "We really appreciate everything people are doing to conserve power.
"We're looking comfortable at the moment. The situation has moved a lot overnight, to carry about 200 megawatts of residual in the system, which is excess supply over demand. Overnight we lost a power station to operational issues, two power stations which were due to start first thing this morning didn't start - fortunately, they have all come back on now."
Andrew explained the company likes to have 200 residual megawatts, but at 6:30am, that was sitting at 150. For every degree it's colder than forecast, it's about 100 megawatts, she added - "which would have eaten half of that".
Despite the temperature risk, she reiterated the situation remains "comfortable", noting that Transpower had been working with electricity lines' companies to switch off hot water systems to reduce demand.
"We felt comfortable we could sit within that situation. [We were] on the margin, but we still felt we could get through without any power cuts."
Addressing concerns around power shortages heading into the winter, Andrew noted it was a "transitional issue" as the system moved to more renewable resources, such as wind.
"It's colder, and there's less wind. We need more fast-start capacity on the system - think batteries, that can come in quickly and fill sharp peaks. We don't have enough of that at the moment."
More plants are being built and large-scale batteries are coming into the system, she added.
"This is a transitional issue that a lot of countries are grappling with as we move to more renewable system."
Watch the interview above.
