National grid operator Transpower said there is enough power for the cold snap, but the situation remains tight. Photo / Supplied
A renewed plea for Kiwis to conserve energy has uprooted concerns about our power network, and whether it’ll hold up over winter.
Last week, power cuts were averted after a national grid emergency showed signs of an initial threat of rolling outages as temperatures plunged to record lows on the coldest day of the year.
Electricity grid operator Transpower issued a warning notice saying there was “insufficient generation... to meet demand” between 7am and 9am on Friday.
Additional generation capacity was able to be “squeezed out” and outages were prevented.
Energy Minister Simeon Brown praised consumers for their restraint to avoid feared cuts, while calling the situation “challenging” and something “that happens when you ban oil and gas exploration”.
Act Party leader David Seymour called the potential cuts “Third World stuff”.
John Harbord is chair of the Major Electricity Users Group - a trade association working across all regulatory regimes and with parties in the supply chain, and all consumers to improve New Zealand’s electricity sector.
He told The Front Page that he would disagree with Seymour - saying there is usually more than enough electricity that can be supplied.
“What we saw last week was the system operating as it’s designed to do, giving everyone enough notice to adjust their behaviour to ensure the lights stay on everywhere.”
Transpower likes to have a spare 200 to 250 megawatts of residual generation that can be called on at short notice.
On Brown’s comments about the oil and gas ban, brought in by the Labour Government, Harbord said the ban did have a negative impact on investment in our gas network - and gas plays a fundamental role in underpinning reliable supply.
“The Minister’s certainly right in that respect. But, I think the bigger issue is the lack of confidence that people who might build new generation have, that their projects get off the line.
“I think the most important thing to make it as easy as possible to build more generation, which is what we need, is some pretty significant reform of the RMA.”
As we edge towards 100 per cent renewable energy, there will be down periods when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining, Harbord said.
“I think we’re probably looking at a scenario where New Zealand will keep using an ever-diminishing amount of gas-fired electricity for probably at least 10, maybe even 20 years,” he said.
Regarding this winter, Harbord said we shouldn’t be too worried at the moment.
“We know the hydro lakes have got a reasonable amount of water in them. They are the biggest electricity battery we have in the country, if you want to look at it that way.
“Historically we do get a reasonable amount of wind during winter. Solar generation is certainly down, but geothermal is pretty consistent.
“Transpower does a very good job of constantly monitoring how much supply of electricity we have relative to demand. So we’ll get plenty of notice if it’s going to get tight again,” he said.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about the road to fixing New Zealand’s power grid - and how we might prevent future crises.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Police could be seen cordoning off a street in the area.