David Laurie, general manager of national grid operations at Transpower, said that although the three cables have a potential capacity of 1,000MW, when pole one was taken out of action, the capacity was reduced to 500MW. As a result, the firm has decided to move one of the cables from pole one to pole two in order to increase the capacity to 700MW.
Mr Laurie said that the step is being taken to maximize the capacity of the high-voltage link (HVDC) while an evaluation is underway to assess whether to reinstate pole one or whether to decommission it.
Increasing the capacity of pole two at this time is purely a precautionary measure to ensure that there is maximum capacity should there be a need for significant northwards power transfer over the summer period, Mr Laurie concluded.
