Hon Simon Bridges
Minister of Energy and Resources
26 November 2015
Inquiry highlights lessons from Penrose outage
Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges has welcomed the Electricity Authority’s report on the October 2014 outage
at Penrose substation in Auckland.
“The Authority has conducted a thorough and detailed inquiry into the two-day outage. This included drawing on a joint
investigation by Vector, Transpower and independent experts, together with forensic analysis of the damaged cables,” Mr
Bridges says.
The inquiry found the outage was caused by an electrical failure in a cable joint which then caught fire. The Authority
concludes that Vector, who owned the cable, and Transpower, who owns Penrose substation, should have identified and
taken action to manage this and associated risks.
“As the Authority has highlighted, some important lessons can be drawn from the outage and I note that both Vector and
Transpower have already made improvements to their assets and processes following the incident.
“I’m pleased the inquiry has found that, during the outage, Vector and Transpower communicated effectively and every
effort was made to get the electricity back up and running as soon as was practicable.
“The outage needs to be seen in the context of a world-class system with strong security of supply. This Government has
made much-needed investment to ensure the lights stay on, including a multi-billion programme to upgrade transmission
infrastructure,” says Mr Bridges.
The Electricity Authority report and supporting material can be read here: http://www.ea.govt.nz/monitoring/enquiries-reviews-and-investigations/2014/section-18-review-of-auckland-power-outage-5-october-2014/
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