Drury switching station successfully commissioned

Drury switching station successfully commissioned

Transpower said today that it has now successfully commissioned a new switching station at Drury, south of Auckland. This is one of several incremental projects to reinforce supply to Auckland prior to the completion and commissioning of the new transmission line from Whakamaru.

The nearly $20 million project (visible from State Highway 1) involved connecting two 220 kV transmission circuits between Huntly and Otahuhu that pass over the substation site (with expansion for a further circuit in the future). This will allow better load sharing between the existing circuits and improve security of electricity supply to the Auckland and Northland regions in the event of the loss of one or more transmission circuits.

Transpower’s General Manager Grid Projects, Mike Carter said that the project is one of a suite of tactical projects designed to get as much as possible out of Transpower’s existing assets before new lines are built and commissioned. “With the commissioning of this new switching station, we can get up to 150 MW more from our existing assets (or about 7% of Auckland’s peak winter load), which is important given that commissioning of the North Island Grid Upgrade is still about two years away.

“The project was also completed within budget and ahead of our original timeline (October 2010), thanks to the excellent work of our project team, our contractors and the co-operation of the local community.”

ENDS

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