Powerco is building a new connection in the South Waikato. Photo / Bevan Conley
Powerco is building a new connection in the South Waikato. Photo / Bevan Conley
New Zealand's largest electricity distributor Powerco is building a new connection in the South Waikato to improve electricity supply to the local communities as the region continues to grow.
The new $43 million South Waikato National Grid Connection project between Arapuni and Putāruru is Powerco's largest project of their investment programme in the region.
The connection will be built as an overhead line, with underground cables used at the start and endpoints. It will ensure households and businesses remain connected to power when the single Transpower transmission line they currently rely on experiences a fault or is undergoing maintenance.
South Waikato District Council Mayor Jenny Shattock says having an alternative line of supply providing extra capacity will be welcomed by communities.
"As our district continues to grow the new line will help to ensure that there are fewer outages, and the surety of supply will have a positive impact on the economy of our region. I am thrilled that this project has finally come to fruition."
Powerco general manager customers Stuart Dickson says the company's team was excited for what this vitally important project will deliver for their customers.
"It's been a 10-year process from first identifying the need to future-proof South Waikato's electricity supply to turning the first sod on building it."
South Waikato District Mayor Jenny Shattock. Photo / Supplied
Community input on the connection was invaluable to improving the route, says Powerco.
Dickson says: "We've spent time over the last 14 months talking with, and listening to, council, iwi and the local community - and without doubt, their feedback improved what we're building."
One of the improvements to come from community feedback was to build parts of the line across private farmland parallel to Arapuni Rd instead of within road reserve along Pearsons Rd as originally proposed.
"While the road reserve is set aside for exactly this sort of electricity infrastructure, we agreed with the community that it made sense to reduce visual impact by moving away from the winding Pearsons Rd and going across private land."
The final part of the route is an overhead section past the Duxfield Reserve. The plan was to build through farmland as well, but the affected landowners did not give their consent, so the connection will now be built within a road reserve next to the reserve.
The new connection between Arapuni and Putāruru will deliver reliable electricity supply to connect growing communities in South Waikato. Photo / George Novak
To minimise visual impact on the reserve, which has a significant landscape amenity designation, Powerco is now seeking consent to build six 20m poles from the council, otherwise, eleven 12m poles will be installed as permitted under the District Plan.
Although most of the connection will be provided through overhead lines as they are cost-effective, and can be safely placed well within the road reserve, at each end of the connection Powerco will use underground cable because it's safer, Dickson says.
"In those sections, the road reserve is very narrow, and at the Arapuni end there are existing Transpower pylons we can't build near."
Establishment work started in January, and construction will go through until March 2023. Initial construction focuses on farmland areas because access to off-road sites is best in the dry weather. Following that, work will move to road reserve along Arapuni Rd.
