Major work while power shut down

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 679, 25 March 1997, Page 3

Major work while power shut down

Line crews from the energy company Powerco tackled a second large maintenance project on the weekend. Sunday 1 6 March nearly 40 Powerco workers from Taranaki, Wanganui, Raetihi, Marton and Taihape were involved in a major maintenance operation on the 33 kV line feeding the Waiouru area. On Sunday their attention tumed to Raetihi, where Powerco took advantage of a Transpower shutdown to clear trees and replace 20 power poles. The power shutdown also affected King Country Energy customers in Ohakune. KCE has also in the past used such shutdowns for routine maintenance. Powerco lines coordinator John Malipaard said his company' s project focusedonthe 1 1 kV feeder line from Raetihi to Ohakune. 'Transpower had already scheduled a major blackout for the Raetihi and Ohakune areas on Sunday, so we decided to work in with this. The work will improve the reliability of supply for around 750 Powerco customers in Raetihi. 'The main task was tree cutting and replacing 20 railway iron power poles, along with routine maintenance on things such as insulators, conductors and cross arms," said Mr Malipaard. He said these major maintenance projects show the worth of a regional energy company. "Powerco has centralised its electricity network and planning functions on Wanganui and that means we are able to plan and carry out these major undertakings using all the resources of the bigger regional company," "Previously we would never have been able to do the amount of work we did at Waiouru and Raetihi," he expounded. "With winter coming closer it' s important that we try and make the electrical network as reliable as possible," said Mr Malipaard.