Securing Dannevirke’s electricity supply - Scanpower’s 10-year plan

Scanpower Network general manager Peter Rue by the Top Grass Rd Substation.

A project to construct a new 10km main feeder line is aimed at ensuring Dannevirke’s electricity supply is secure over the coming decades.

The project is part of a 10-year plan by electricity provider Scanpower to “significantly increase” the amount of electricity the network can deliver to the Tararua District town.

The new line started at the Transpower substation on Top Grass Rd going down Laws Rd to the edge of town.

Initially, the line would run at 11,000 volts, providing surplus capacity in the near term but would be upgraded to 33,000 volts by 2028.

There will be 151 new poles on the line and just over 100 have been installed to date by Scanpower’s team of line mechanics, supported by local contractors.

Network general manager Peter Rue said construction would be completed before winter this year.

Work would then start on the construction of new substations that would enable the line to be “stepped up” to 33,000 volts in the subsequent years.

Scanpower chief executive Lee Bettles said the increase in capacity would ensure the network would be able to handle new business and residential connections or changes in demand from the existing community.

“Our current infrastructure is near its limits to support any new growth within our community,” he said.

“Installing the additional infrastructure at a higher voltage ensures we are covered for long-term growth, and we anticipate another project of this nature won’t be needed for decades to come.”

Bettles said the 10-year plan to build extra capacity was in anticipation of an expected increase in demand over the next 10 years.

This was in line with a strategy by Transpower which projected increases arising as a result of ongoing decarbonisation of the New Zealand and local economy and the declining use of fossil fuels as an energy source, a steady growth in the number of electric vehicles and associated charging requirements, the conversion of industrial heat processes from gas to electric and local growth in the commercial and residential sectors.

A “fence line” of flash new telegraph poles up Laws Rd recently installed by Scanpower.