Households have been warned of overloading the country’s power grid today. Video / NZ Herald
Bay of Plenty and the Central Plateau residents woke to freezing temperatures this morning and the threat of rolling power outages due to a nationwide grid emergency on the coldest day of the year.
Christchurch, Twizel and Mt Cook Airport were the coldest spots in the country this morning, dropping to a bone-chilling -6.4C around 5.30am, according to MetService.
Alexandra wasn’t far behind at -5C, while Taumarunui was the coldest town in the North Island at -4.6C.
But despite the icy temperatures, households were told to conserve electricity and not use their heaters as much to prevent overloading the country’s power grid as energy demand outstrips supply.
Energy Minister Simeon Brown spoke with Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB about the energy sector’s request to save power this morning.
“I knew it would be challenging and I knew it would be tight... but the reality is the outcome of six years of not sending the right messages to our electricity sector, to make sure we have the generation we need,” Brown said.
“I think people are waking up this morning and they are aware that it is tight, and I’m very grateful that New Zealanders are heeding the message this morning.”
He added: “It’s what happens when you say by 2030 we’re going to be 100 per cent renewable, which is completely impossible to meet.
Energy Minister Simeon Brown. Photo / Michael Craig
“It’s what happens when you ban oil and gas exploration, which is what the last government did.”
Brown blamed the energy warning on the previous Labour-led Government policies, which focused on moving to more renewable sources of electricity.
“The industry said, this is having a chilling impact on investment.”
Transpower issues warning
The country’s grid operator Transpower issued a warning notice on Thursdaysaying it did not have enough generation offers to meet demand between 7am and 9am Friday.
People have been asked not to use heaters or lights in rooms they were not using, not to charge electronic devices and vehicles and to delay using washing machines, clothes dryers and dishwashers.
The Minister of Energy has also urged New Zealanders to conserve electricity this morning. Meanwhile, Government minister and Act Party leader David Seymour has called the potential cuts “Third World stuff”.
Contact Energy boss Mike Hughes says Transpower is being “prudent” in warning about possible power cuts this morning.
He told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking this morning that Transpower liked to have a spare 200-250 megawatts of “residual generation” for the country.
“When they start to get within that zone, as a matter of prudence they say, ‘Look we need to do a bit more to make sure they maintain that gap’,” he said.
“So Transpower’s warnings are very much out of an abundance of prudence, to stimulate generators to bring all the generation they can bring to bear.”
Investments were being made to increase power-generating capacity, he said. That included the new Tauhara geothermal power station which would add 160-170 megawatts.
“But the cold has come a bit earlier, and the project is running a bit late.”
