The Role of The National Grid
The New Zealand national grid provides the means of transporting bulk electricity from where it is generated (by companies like Meridian Energy and Mighty River Power) to cities, towns and some major industrial users like the aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point. Most of the electricity from the national grid is delivered to New Zealand’s homes and businesses by electricity distribution companies like Vector and Orion. A few large industrial users are directly connected to the national grid.
Transpower owns and operates 11,806 kilometres (7,336 mi) of transmission lines. A core network consisting of 5719 km (route) of 220 kV transmission lines exist in each island (one line is built to 400 kV but operates at 220 kV), and this is supplemented by 4719 km of 110 kV transmission lines and 797 km of 66 kV and 50 kV transmission lines, which interconnect the core grid to smaller load centres and power stations. Transpower also owns and operates the HVDC Inter-Island, a 611 km ±350 kV high voltage direct current link between the two islands. There are 178 electrical substations, containing 1116 transformers with a total capacity of 14,500 MVA.
Read more about this topic: Transpower New Zealand Limited
Famous quotes containing the words role and/or national:
“The role of the intelligence—that part of us which affirms and denies and formulates opinions—is merely to submit.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)
“Ignorance, forgetfulness, or contempt of the rights of man are the only causes of public misfortunes and of the corruption of governments.”
—French National Assembly. Declaration of the Rights of Man (drafted and discussed Aug. 1789, published Sept. 1791)