Power boost for crash-hit supply

A new 7km underground power cable is to be laid with the aim of preventing blackouts at Mapua if vehicles crash on the Appleby Highway.

In the past year, three incidents on the Appleby section of State Highway 60 cut supply to the Mapua substation, affecting about 2200 consumers, including businesses. Two involved vehicles crashing into power poles, while the third incident, in January, involved a sheet of iron being blown into the power lines.

Network Tasman chief executive Oliver Kearney said the new cable would run from Waimea West to Ridgeview Rd/SH60.

‘‘The contractor will commence in the next month, and the project will be completed by the end of the year,’’ he said.

At an estimated cost of $2.8 million, the new cable is expected to improve the reliability of the network, which had outages above its targets for the year.

The cable is one of the key planned projects for 2019-20, which also includes the undergrounding of power lines along Ellis St in Brightwater.

Capital investment projects feature heavily in Network Tasman’s plans over the next 10 years, with an associated forecast spend of $120m.

The lines company has a strong balance sheet, ending the 2018-19 year with just under $203m in shareholder funds, up from about $195m at the end of March 2018. Term debt was at $250,000 – down from $6m a year earlier.

Its sound financial position was boosted by an operating surplus of $9.7m for the year ended March 31, $1.1m above target.

Network Tasman Ltd is wholly owned by Network Tasman Trust, and the company’s annual report was presented at the trust’s AGM.

Trust chairwoman Gwenny Davis said Network Tasman was in a ‘‘very fortunate position’’ of being in a growth region. Changes in technology such as solar energy were a ‘‘major opportunity and a threat to the value of the network’’.

Former Tasman District Council chief executive Lindsay McKenzie has been appointed to the company board, filling a vacancy left by retiring director Jim Williamson.

Network Tasman Ltd board chairman John McCliskie said key growth areas for the company included Hira and Atawhai, ‘‘and particularly a large project associated with the Cawthron Institute where we’re spending in excess of $5m’’. In other areas, upgrades to the network were needed to cater for land use changes, such as a switch to hops, as well as residential growth around Richmond and in Golden Bay.

Another big project was a planned new transmission grid exit point at Brightwater.