Ohakune power goes to ground

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 421, 28 January 1992, Page 7

Ohakune power goes to ground

v Power is going underground in Ohakune. King Country Energy staff have started the first stages of a project to underground the power supply in Clyde Street, from the Arawa to Goldfinch Street intersections. Wooden power poles and power lines will be replaced by underground cables and orange sodium vapour street lights. The alterations to the BP service station on the corner of Raetihi Road and Goldfinch Streets brought the project forward, as a power pole needed to be shifted. The cost of the project is to be split 50/50 between KCE and the Ruapehu District Council, | with the RDC's contri- , bution subsidised by Transit New Zealand. The street lights will be on 10 metre high poles with a two metre outreach. The lights will be similar to those at the National Park intersec- 1 tion. 1 Once the underground- : ing work on the ArawaMiro streets section is complete, KCE staff will carry out the MiroGoldfinch Street section, followed by the Goldfinch -Bums Street section, possibly next year. KCE staff are also carrying out underground-

ing work at Conway Street, where they are laying high voltage cable to new transformer sites. The long term plan is to have high voltage power reticulated up Miro Street, with spur feeders to transformers spread up Arawa and Goldfinch Streets. At present high voltage lines run up Arawa and Goldfinch Streets. KCE supervisor Dougal Campbell said the long term plan is to eventually underground

all low voltage lines. He said they are holding back on carrying out such work in places like the middle section of Miro Street (Conway to Wye Streets) to see what development happens. If more of the larger sections are developed into multiple ski chalet blocks they would nced more electric power, which means if the lines were laid underground before hand, it could be necessary to later dig them up and upgrade them.