Powerline upgrade

State-owned electricity grid operator Transpower has released options for a line between Wairakei and Whakamaru.

This is different from the line through the Waikato, which has been controversial.

The double circuit 220kV line, to replace the existing Wairakei-to-Whakamaru B line, will have over four times more capacity than the existing one.

Transpower expects to decide a preferred route by early 2010.

- NZPA