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Powering Auckland’s Future Our interim findings and emerging strategy to support the future growth of our largest city. Auckland Strategy Direction

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Powering Auckland’s Future

Our interim findings and emerging strategy to support the future growth of our largest city.

Auckland Strategy Direction

2 Auckland’s Strategic Direction 3

Executive summaryAuckland is changing. Rapidly. Roads, housing, technology, industry, and electricity.

This is our second report about our work to develop a long-term strategy to support our city’s growth, changing environment, and vision for the future.

The executive summary provides a brief snapshot of our purpose, what we’ve found so far, and the strategy that is beginning to emerge from our work.

Contents 3. Executive summary 10. Background

12. Our history14. Our future20. Our projects

22. Our Auckland Strategy24. Developing our emerging strategy27. Process28. Key findings30. Emerging strategy34. Undergrounding35. Getting ready for our work36. What happens now37. The strategy process38. Our funding framework

40. Next Steps43. Steps to the final report

54 Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Executive Summary

Our Auckland Strategy will look at the drivers for change on the Grid in Auckland and how we can best support and plan for those changes.

It will seek to respond to, and plan for, new technologies, growth, and our long-term major maintenance programme. This will ensure that in the future we can:

• provide efficient and resilient transmission services;

• sustain operational and maintenance flexibility;

• optimise our current infrastructure;

• enable agility through innovation.

The strategy scope includes:

• keeping high levels of security of supply across Auckland and Northland;

• developing options up to the late 2050s;

• designing to meet Transpower’s prudent load forecast, with flexibility for an uncertain future e.g. new technologies;

• retaining the ability for the 220kV line into South Auckland to operate at 400kV through our substation work;

• working with Vector and Counties Power to ensure a sufficient and reliable supply of electricity for their end customers.

Auckland Strategy Purpose

Foundation document — our work in Auckland

Final Auckland Strategy (June 2018)

We are here Interim findings and emerging strategy

6 7Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Executive Summary

Key findings so far• Our current infrastructure and

assets are enough to provide a secure and reliable supply well into the 2040s, even with increased electricity consumption and population growth.

• All our lines in Auckland need major maintenance at different times over the next 30 years.

• Undergrounding everything isn’t the answer — it comes with significant costs and technical challenges.

• Some future projects in the Auckland Strategy may require third party financial support.

• The cost of electricity remains a concern to NZ’s electricity consumers.

• Our 220kV network is essential for the bulk transfer of electricity into, across and through Auckland. The 110kV network is not as essential for this function.

Key opportunities• Auckland’s 110kV lines are

legacy assets and most now act as a distribution network. There are opportunties to rationalise them over time.

• New technologies (e.g. batteries and solar PV) may provide an opportunity to defer future investments and get the most out of our existing assets.

• The complexity of the major maintenance work means we will be trialling and implementing new transmission technologies and new construction practices — our aim is to undertake our work in Auckland with the least disruption to the community as possible.

Emerging strategy• The 220kV network will remain and

be maintained over time. This part of the Grid will still be needed in the future, as it provides the backbone electricity network into, across and through Auckland.

• We will look to rationalise our footprint where practicable — there are opportunities especially with the 110kV network. This work will happen over time, triggered by the need for major maintenance or where there is a conflict with another significant infrastructure project e.g. road, rail, housing.

• Central Auckland: We will retain the 220kV lines and undertake major maintenance over the coming decades. We may remove approximately 60km of 110kV lines over the next 40 years. A new cross-Auckland cable may be required around 2040.

• South Auckland: We will retain the 220kV lines and undertake major maintenance over time. We may remove 110kV lines where practicable. A new cable in South-East Auckland may be built around 2030.

Interim findings and opportunities

98 Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Executive Summary

We invite you to be part of this work — we want your input, and support, as we develop and finalise our Auckland Strategy.

Feedback on the following questions will be particularly useful:

• Do you support this approach?

• Do you need more information to understand our approach?

Your feedback is important to us and will help us analyse and determine the final strategy.

The rest of this document sets out our process, our thinking, and how to be part of this work.

Next steps

We will be gathering feedback from stakeholders on our findings so far, and developing our long-term plan, including further study and analysis on the Auckland Grid.

1110 Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Background

BackgroundOur foundation document, Powering Auckland’s Future told the story of the Grid in Auckland, highlighting the opportunities and challenges we have in Auckland over the next 30+ years. Here’s  a recap.

Henderson

Huapai

Hepburn Rd

Mount Roskill

Mangere

Southdown

Wiri

GlenbrookBombay

Albany

Otahuhu

Pakuranga

Brownhill Rd

Drury

Takanini

Penrose

Wairau Rd

Hobson St

12 Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Background

Starting in the 1920s, the Grid has developed through and around Auckland’s narrow isthmus and up into Northland.

The lines and substations were established on the rural outskirts of the city, that developed into suburbs as Auckland grew. The Grid now shares these urban spaces with communities.

As Auckland grew, so did the Grid and its capacity. The first 110kV lines were built in the 1940s followed by the larger 220kV in the 1960s, and the high capacity line and cable in the early 2010s.

In Auckland we have approximately 300km of overhead lines and 55km of underground cables.

The investments in the early 2010s have put us in a good place — we are able to maintain a safe, secure electricity supply to Auckland and Northland, and have secured Auckland’s electricity needs into the future (for at least the next 20 years).

In the past three years Auckland-based electricity generation has reduced despite Auckland growing. We now bring the majority of our electricity from the south: 95% of peak electricity demand for Auckland and Northland comes from generation sources in the central North Island and South Island (predominantly renewable hydro, wind and geothermal generation).

Our history and the Grid today

We have approximately 300km of overhead lines in Auckland, and 55km of underground cables.

What’s driving us?• Our long-term major

maintenance programme.

• Changes in technology in the electricity industry and other related sectors, changes in electricity use.

• Auckland’s development and growth plans — especially the large infrastructure projects for housing and transport, and associated services (e.g. water). Our assets can be a constraint for those developments and often need to be designed around, or moved to accommodate growth.

Key

Substation

Switching Station

Transmission Lines by Voltage

110 kV Overhead

110 kV Cable

220 kV Overhead

220 kV Cable

400 kV Overhead (capable)

13

Henderson

Huapai

Hepburn RdMount Roskill

Mangere

Southdown

Wiri

GlenbrookBombay

Albany

Otahuhu

Pakuranga

Brownhill Rd

Drury

Takanini

Penrose

Wairau Rd

Hobson St

14 Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Background

Looking after what we haveOur lines were built in the 1940s and 1960s and we built them to last a long time. It is now time to start to refurbish them — this means a significant programme of major maintenance over the next 30+ years.

This major maintenance programme will include rewiring (reconductoring) and tower maintenance (painting, foundations). This is routine work for us as we maintain the Grid for the future.

Maintenance of our lines does have its challenges:

• our assets are in urban areas — a large number of buildings and houses are built under our lines;

• construction activities will cause disruption for local communites, even with our efforts to reduce this disruption;

• the work is technically complex and costly;

• the work is resource intensive and we anticipate labour shortages in Auckland.

Given the challenges of working in urban Auckland, we need to think differently about how to plan and deliver our work programme.

We constantly seek to be efficient and avoid unnecessary price increases for electricity consumers.

2030 Henderson — Maungatapere A

2030−Henderson — Marsden A

2040+/−Penrose — Mt Roskill A

2040+Mangere - Mt Roskill A

2040+Mangere — Otahuhu A

2040+Huntly — Otahuhu A

2040+Albany — Huapai A

2020Albany — Henderson A

2040+Otahuhu — Penrose A

2040+Otahuhu — Penrose B

2025Otahuhu — Penrose C

2040+Otahuhu — Pakuranga A

2020Otahuhu — Whakamaru A

2020Otahuhu — Whakamaru B

2030Otahuhu — Whakamaru C

2023Bombay — Otahuhu A

2030Glenbrook — Deviation A

2040+Henderson — Hepburn Road A

2040+Henderson — Mt Roskill A

2060Hepburn Road — Mt Roskill A

2030Henderson — Otahuhu A

Key

Substation

Switching Station

Transmission Lines by Voltage

110 kV Overhead

110 kV Cable

220 kV Overhead

220 kV Cable

400 kV Overhead (capable)

Timing of Planned Work (dates indicative)

20 2020-2029

30 2030-2039

40 2040+

15

Our future maintenance programme

Anticipated dates for major maintenance

16 Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Background 17

Electricity demand growthA greater population means an increase in electricity usage — but we’re not sure how much of that power will be needed from us. It is highly likely for the foreseeable future that Auckland demand:

• Will remain at least as high as it is now.

• Is expected to increase at a rate of about 1% a year, but no higher than 2% a year on average. Note: 1% = adding the amount of power used in Hamilton to Auckland’s electricity demand every 10 years.

Solar and Solar PVSolar panels to supplement or replace household power supply have become more common and growth has been rapid.

By themselves, solar panels do not reduce the need for a transmission system. This is because their time of peak generation is in the middle of a sunny summer day, while peak demand typically occurs on cold winter evenings. To solve this mismatch, batteries known as a solar PV system, are needed.

Electricity generation developmentMost of Auckland’s electricity is generated outside of the region. There is potential for new generation in both Auckland and Northland, however there is no guarantee that will happen as many of the generation options have been on the planning books for well over five years. In any event, even if all were to occur, Auckland would still not be self-sufficient in electricity.

Battery storageBattery technology continues to develop and in time will be a game-changer for the power system. We see it as a useful tool for us and others in the industry, as well as for homes and businesses. We expect use to increase as the costs of batteries continue to decline.

Long term, we expect that battery or other storage technologies will alter our business by covering short-term imbalances in supply and demand, and by smoothing out daily peaks.

Our recent research indicates that batteries are likely to present best value when located near places of high electricity demand (such as major cities), and that benefits are variable.

Energy efficiencyEnergy efficiency will continue to play its part in reducing overall electricity demand through a variety of ways. These include industry improvements, new warm houses built and retrofitting existing housing stock, and the continued evolution of energy efficient products for homes and businesses.

Electric vehiclesGiven the benefits include emission reductions, lower running costs, and in some cases Government support programmes, we anticipate uptake of electric vehicles will be rapid. Government policy is targeting 64,000 by 2021/22.

In future, we expect that electric vehicle batteries could have capability to be part of a battery network, providing services when the vehicle is plugged in to charge overnight.

The future: Technology

An important part of the equation is the trends in electricity generation, transmission and consumption that might change how Auckland’s electricity is supplied. Our investigations into growth, generation, and technologies have identified these key findings.

18 Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Background 19

From Transmission Tomorrow, our vision for the future of the National Grid, we know there are a number of trends that are driving change, fast, in the electricity sector.

• Distributed generation and storage, such as solar and batteries — opportunities to smooth demand peaks.

• Electrification — industrial processes switching to electricity, electric vehicles.

• Energy consumption — we are becoming more efficient users of electricity, but this will be lessened by an increase in electrification.

• Smart grids — networked digital devices in homes, businesses and on the network offer potential for a more efficient electricity system.

• Urbanisation — we are becoming more urbanised, with growth in the upper North Island, in particular Auckland.

• Climate change policy and changing social attitudes — will drive a shift towards electricity (substituting fossil fuels).

Transmission Tomorrow is available on our website.

What does this mean for Auckland?The Grid will still be needed to supply power to, around, and through Auckland. Our lines and substations will still be critical infrastructure in the future.

We need to be flexible given the uncertain future, and to plan for changes over time.

With these changes we are looking at our network, development plans and business processes in a different way: broader and further into the future. Technology will drive a change in the way we do things at Transpower.

Where assets are required in the long-term, we need to continue to maintain them to ensure a secure and resilient electricity service in the future.

Due to the changes on the horizon, we need to think carefully before building any new assets, in order to avoid over-investing.

Our future: Transmission Tomorrow

Key

95% Confidence Interval

Historic

Expected

Prudent

1997

2000

2003

2006

2009

2012

2015

2018

2021

2024

2027

2030

2033

2036

2039

2042

2045

2048

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

1000

Annual gross region peak forecast for Auckland

Win

ter

regi

on p

eak

— M

W

Henderson

Huapai

Hepburn RdMount Roskill

Mangere

Southdown

Wiri

GlenbrookBombay

Albany

Otahuhu

Pakuranga

Brownhill Rd

Drury

Takanini

Penrose

Wairau Rd

Hobson St

20 Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Background

We are frequently asked to relocate our assets to enable roading and rail projects, or to underground, consolidate or relocate lines to enable housing development. Increasingly, other ancillary infrastructure is also impacting our assets, e.g. water and fibre.

And, as a normal day to day activity, we also need to work in our substations to ensure that Auckland’s distribution companies Vector and Counties Power, and our direct

connect customer New Zealand Steel, continue to be supplied with electricity.

We estimate we will undertake at least $350M of work on the Grid in Auckland over the next five years, for known infrastructure projects, to enable transport and housing developments, and to ensure our customers can meet electricity demand. Much of this work is funded by the transport or housing developer, or distribution company.

Key

Substation

Switching Station

Transmission Lines by Voltage

110 kV Overhead

110 kV Cable

220 kV Overhead

220 kV Cable

400 kV Overhead (capable)

Auckland’s other infrastructure projects

Accelerated Motorway Package (NCI & NBE)

SH16 — 18 Connection Improvements

City Rail Link

Light Rail Transit

East West Connections

Southern Motorway Improvements

SHA — Flat Bush Strategic Area

SHA — Drury

SHA — Wesley College

AMETI — Reeves Rd flyover

AMETI — Panmure to Botany

Redoubt Rd — Mill Rd Corridor

Our assets are located in areas where Auckland is growing upwards and outwards.

21

2322 Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Our Auckland Strategy

It is about how we are planning our work now, to support Auckland’s growth, in a way that recognises the electricity sector’s uncertain future. Because the vast majority of Auckland’s future electricity needs can be supplied by the existing Grid, we’ve taken the opportunity to consider how we optimise the Grid for the future, given the major maintenance that must be undertaken.

Our interim findings and emerging strategy bring all these drivers together.

Our Auckland Strategy

24 Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Our Auckland Strategy 25

Developing our  emerging strategyOur interim findings come from a range of work streams — investigations and research, technical analysis and assessment, and stakeholder engagement.

Assessment and Evaluation• Modelling of the Grid based on

a range of demand scenarios

• Analysis of the major maintenance programme, including rewiring projects (reconductoring)

• Outage requirements and analysis

• Input of other infrastructure projects impacting the Grid

• Understanding how innovation and technology may affect the Grid, and electricity generation and consumption

• What our funding contraints and opportunities are under our regulatory regime. We know some options will require third party financial support

Expert Work StreamsExperts provided advice in a range of disciplines:

• System planning

• Transmission lines and substations

• Environment, including planning, landscape and visual, and ecology

• Property

• Economics

• Construction

• Operation and maintenance

• System operations

• Stakeholder engagement

• Iwi cultural considerations

Stakeholder EngagementEngagement with key stakeholders over a six month period including:

• Auckland electricity customers: Vector, Counties Power, Mercury, NZ Steel

• Northland electricity customers: Top Energy, Northpower

• Auckland Council, including Ward Councillors and Local Boards

• Auckland Transport

• Panuku

• Watercare

• NZTA

• KiwiRail

• Chorus

• Iwi

• Commerce Commission

• Auckland business entities e.g. Chamber of Commerce, Committee for Auckland

• Infrastructure NZ

27Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Our Auckland Strategy26

future) to full undergrounding (at significant cost).

We undertook a multi-criteria analysis to assist with identifiying an emerging strategy.

We analysed a number of options for the future of the Grid in Auckland within the parameters of the project objectives and assumptions. These ranged from status quo (continue to maintain our assets into the

Option generation• 20 high level options considered

Assessment and refinement• Experts provided advice

in a range of disciplines

• Undertook multi-criteria analysis using internal and external experts

• Options ranked

• Tested against a range of demand scenarios

Emerging strategy• Emerging strategy identified

• Deeper understanding of development triggers and timing

• High level costing and environment and property analysis

Stakeholder engagement

ProcessWe have a multi-disciplinary project team working on our emerging strategy to make sure we are looking at our direction from all perspectives. This includes collaborating with Vector, Counties Power and others in the wider electricity sector and also other important stakeholder groups and communities.

28 29Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Our Auckland Strategy

Key findings

Taking into account the options, issues and challenges, costs and risks, and what our key stakeholders had to say, we found that our final Auckland Strategy must meet the following principles:

Even with higher than expected load growth, we have enough infrastructure to provide Auckland with a resilient electricity supply for the next 20 years due to our investment programme in the early-2010s.

Our lines in Auckland will require significant maintenance work at different times over the next 30 years.

The 220kV network is vital to the supply of Auckland’s electricity — it is the backbone of Auckland’s Grid. A new cable in South-East Auckland may be required around 2030 and a new cross-Auckland cable may be required around 2040.

The 110kV network, while it has played an important role, now acts largely as a distribution network. There may be opportunities to rationalise parts of the 110kV network over time.

Where assets are required in the long-term, we need to continue to maintain them to ensure a secure and resilient electricity service in the future.

Some communities have asked us to underground our lines as they can pose a constraint on development and have a visual impact. Undergrounding is not an easy answer to these problems — it is costly, technically complex, and outages following a fault are likely to be significantly longer.

We know that some options may require third party financial support to enable them to occur —undergrounding would be one of these. This is because our current regulatory funding framework is based on a least-cost to New Zealand principle: the cost of most of our assets in Auckland is spread across all New Zealand electricity consumers. Some assets are funded by the beneficiary customer e.g. Vector.

Manage the impact of our network on the community and NZ electricity consumers

Be fundable, and achievable, under our existing regulatory framework

Meet future demand and ensure sufficient resilience for the future

Cause the least disruption to our communities during major maintenance work

Henderson

Huapai

Hepburn RdMount Roskill

Mangere

Wiri

Albany

Otahuhu

Pakuranga

Brownhill Rd

Penrose

Wairau Rd

Hobson St

30 Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Our Auckland Strategy

Key

Substation

Switching Station

Transmission Lines by Voltage

110kV Overhead (existing)

220kV Overhead (existing)

220kV Cable (existing)

220kV Cable (new)

400 kV Overhead (capable)

Upgrade (2043)

To Northland Load

Emerging strategy: Central Auckland

Our emerging strategy identifies which overhead lines are to remain and need maintaining. It rationalises the Grid’s footprint, where practicable, in a way that creates the least impacts — it reduces, rather than increases impacts on communities.

Our emerging strategy for Central Auckland would:

• retain the 220kV lines and continue to maintain them;

• remove approximately 60km of 110kV overhead line, including from the Manukau Harbour shoreline, and most of the 110kV lines between Albany, Henderson and Otahuhu;

• retain the 110kV lines between Hepburn Road and Mt Roskill substations; and

• install two new underground cables, one across Auckland (Pakuranga – Albany) and one between Brownhill and Otahuhu.

In order to enable this we would need to:

• build a short 700m overhead line to connect the 220kV line to Hepburn Road substation to facilitate removal of the 110kV lines between Henderson and Otahuhu; and

• build new equipment at substations.

We note again that each project will be assessed on its merits at the time detailed planning occurs.

We considered removing the 220kV lines from the Manukau Harbour shoreline. This option is significantly more complex than our emerging strategy because it would require rebuilding these lines over residential areas or undergrounding them which will have considerable environmental and property challenges.

We considered removal of all 110kV lines. Again, this option is significantly

more complex than our emerging strategy because it would require a cable termination station located in a residential area to connect the Mt Roskill substation to the 220kV line. Similarly, this would pose considerable environmental and property challenges.

We considered undergrounding of lines. This option is significantly more expensive (approximately $4B+) and technically complex. Lines can’t be removed until underground cables are in service and this would take decades to achieve. Additionally, the gap between what Transpower could fund under the current regulatory funding framework and the costs to underground are significant.

2030Re-wiring of 220kV Henderson — Otahuhu

2040+Look to build a second cable across AucklandRemove the 110kV Albany — Henderson — Hepburn Rd — Mt Roskill — Otahuhu lines

60km110kV lines removed

40km220kV cable added

2030+Look to build a 220/110kV interconnection site between Hepburn and Mt Roskill

31

32 Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Our Auckland Strategy

Mangere

Otahuhu

Wiri

Drury

Brownhill Rd

Flat Bush

Emerging strategy: South Auckland

33

Our work in South Auckland is further ahead than Central Auckland — a number of investigations and projects are already underway.

Our emerging strategy for South Auckland would:

• retain the 220kV lines and continue to maintain them;

• retain and upgrade the 110kV line between Otahuhu and Wiri;

• remove approximately 25km of 110kV line between Bombay and Wiri (currently under investigation);

• build new equipment at substations; and

• remove approximately 140km of 110kV line between Bombay and Hamilton (currently under investigation).

While the final Auckland Strategy provides the direction for where we are heading, we know that this work will happen over a long time period (40 years). Therefore it is important that each project is assessed on its merits — this will occur when the lines are ready for major maintenance, or other infrastructure projects conflict with our assets. At this stage we will investigate whether we can rationalise these assets instead of maintaining them for the future.

Key

Substation

Switching Station

Special Housing Area

Transmission Lines by Voltage

110 kV Overhead

110 kV Cable

220 kV Overhead

220 kV Cable

400 kV Overhead (capable)

34 35Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Our Auckland Strategy

Undergrounding

Some communities have asked us to underground our lines as they can pose a constraint on development and have a visual impact.

Getting ready for our work

We considered undergrounding all or parts of the network as part of our process and it was put through the multi-criteria analysis alongside all other options.

Undergrounding is technically feasible and would remove the visual impacts of overhead lines. It would also free up land to enable further growth.

But, it is not without its challenges.

• It’s not a quick fix — lines couldn’t be removed until underground cables were in service — which could be many decades away.

• Finding suitable underground routes for new cables, free of conflicting infrastructure e.g. gas, would be challenging. Other infrastructure would likely need to be relocated and/or be prevented from co-locating in the vicinity of underground cables. Significant disruption of the road network would also occur during construction and potentially during maintenance and fault repairs.

We are investigating technological advances in transmission line engineering, technology, and maintenance techniques which will help us to work in urban environments.

These include new types of equipment and conductor and innovative work methods and practices to assist us to reduce disruption to our communities.

We are also looking into how new technologies (e.g. batteries) provide an opportunity to defer future investments and get the most out of our existing assets.

We are investigating building a new training facility to trial these new technologies and procedures.

We will continue to monitor new technologies and changes in demand.

We will work with our regulators to facilitate regulatory approvals for projects.

• Cable faults are harder to locate and fix than for overhead lines. This potentially means longer outages or times on lower security supply levels. To counter this, we would need to install multiple cables on diverse routes and this adds to the costs.

• Costs to underground all lines in Auckland are significant, approximately $4B+. Initial construction costs, and operation and maintenance costs are higher than for overhead lines. Underground cables also have a shorter lifespan than overhead lines, so would need to be replaced earlier.

• The gap between what Transpower could fund under its current regulatory funding framework and the costs of undergrounding are likely to be significant. We also consider it unlikely that funds would be available from a third party (e.g. Auckland Council), given Auckland’s current infrastructure priorities.

Many of the undergrounding benefits can be met from removal or rationalisation of transmission lines — but with fewer challenges.

On balance, we consider undergrounding shouldn’t be pursued at a strategy level although undergrounding of some individual lines at a project level would continue to be considered. (for instance, to enable housing development subject to the developer funding it).

36 37Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Our Auckland Strategy

Reviewed current assets & drivers for change

Auckland Strategy finalised June 2018

Development triggers

Construction & delivery

We are here Auckland Strategy Direction

Options & opportunities

Powering Auckland’s Future Foundation Report November 2017

Confirm funding mechanism

Project approved

Detailed design and planningConsents, property, and stakeholder engagement

What happens now?

The strategy process

Need for line to be rewired

Existing cables need replacing

Projects that require our lines to be relocated or undergrounded

Existing cables need replacing

Changes in electricity demand

Shift?*

Underground

New location (relocate)

* Third party funding from other infrastructure providers e.g housing, transport

Retain and maintain for the future

New assets required?

Rationalise?

Remove

Consolidate

38 39Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Our Auckland Strategy

Our funding framework for major maintenance

As a regulated monopoly Transpower’s funding is set by the Commerce Commission to ensure the money we spend provides long-term benefits to New Zealand electricity consumers.

The Commerce Commission establishes various processes to ensure this objective can be followed.

Funding for our projects is recovered from electricity consumers nationwide via electricity retailers, making up a fixed charge on electricity bills.

We constantly seek to be efficient and avoid unnecessary price increases for electricity consumers.

Grid Investment Test methodology (Commerce Commission)Principle: highest consumer benefit for lowest life cycle cost

Options analysed and alternatives considered in project investigation

Rationalisation or removal is the same cost or cheaper than retaining and maintaining into the future

Transpower funds on business as usual

Need 3rd party funding for deficit in project cost for project to proceedExample: Total cost of project $35M (undergrounding a section of line).

Retention of the line and maintenance (reconductoring) is least cost for NZ electricity consumers $15M.

Deficit in funding $20M. Would need to come from a 3rd party.

Rationalisation or removal is more expensive than retaining and maintaining into the future

Transpower pays for option with highest consumer benefit for lowest lifecycle cost

4140 Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Next Steps

Next Steps

We’d like your thoughts about our emerging strategy

and interim findings.

4342 Auckland’s Strategic Direction — Next Steps

Finalising our Auckland Strategy

Jan — Mar 2018Feedback from stakeholdersTo finalise our Auckland Strategy by June 2018, we’d like your feedback on our emerging strategy by 31 March 2018.

Feedback on the following issues would be particularly useful to us:

• Do you support this approach?

• Do you need more information to understand our approach?

Your feedback is important to us and will help us analyse and determine the final strategy.

Jun 2018Final Auckland StrategyOur Auckland Strategy will provide a blueprint for where we’re heading in Auckland over the next 40 years. Taking into account the drivers for change on the Grid in Auckland and how we can best support and plan for those changes. It will respond to, and plan for, new technologies, growth, and our long-term major maintenance programme.

Apr — May 2018Further technical work during and following feedbackThe next stage of our work will include:

• Further modelling and evaluation to supplement the work to date, including more work on costs and benefits.

• Understanding any changes to internal processes to integrate the strategy’s findings.

• Further investigations and research, technical analysis and assessment, and stakeholder engagement.

For more information on this project or if you would like to be part of these conversations please contact Auckland Development Stakeholder Engagement Manager Selina Corboy on 021 805 861 or email [email protected]

Be part of our conversations