Poles put in for overhead power cable

Securing power supply is vital Ray Swadel, deputy chief executive

Almost a third of the temporary power poles being put up along Main St East are already in place as Powerco races to install a back up supply of electricity to central Palmerston North.

A 3 kilometre, 33,000 volt overhead power cable is going up after power to about 250 central city properties was cut on Thursday morning.

The outage shut down the Plaza shopping centre, where every shop except Kmart, Farmers, and Countdown closed until 2pm.

The problem was traced to the failure of one of three cables from the Keith St substation to the Main St substation near Princess St.

Powerco network operations manager Phil Marsh said one of the other two cables also had a fault, but was working again.

Erection of the power poles began on Monday, with each pole sunk 2 metres into the ground. About 1km of poles are now in position.

‘‘We are making very good progress and we are on track for the overhead line to be finished in two to three weeks.’’

The Palmerston North City Council and New Zealand Transport Agency were co-operating to help minimise disruption to residents, businesses and traffic.

The supply line will provide security of the power supply to the central city while Powerco moves on to the more complex job of replacing the underground cables.

That could take six to nine months to complete.

The overhead line would then come down.

Palmerston North City Council deputy chief executive Ray Swadel said the council was allowing the project because securing the power supply was vital.

‘‘We have made it clear to Powerco that this is to be a temporary measure while Powerco contractors put new underground cables in place.’’

Marsh said overhead lines were not a suitable long-term solution for a ‘‘thriving’’ city.