Electricity Sector in New Zealand - Consumption

Consumption

In 2011, New Zealand consumed a total of 38,490 GWh of electricity. Industrial consumption made up 37.7 percent of that figure, agricultural consumption made up 5.0 percent, commercial consumption made up 23.8 percent, and residential consumption made up 33.5 percent. There were just over 1,929,000 connections to the national electricity network on in March 2011, with 87.2 percent being residential connections.

Electricity consumption in New Zealand (by sector, 2011 year)
Category Total consumption (GWh) Total connections
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 1,937 63,512
Industrial 14,528 34,832
Mining 407
Food Processing 1882
Wood, Pulp, Paper and Printing 3,224
Chemicals 683
Basic Metals 6,917
Other sectors 1,414
Commercial and Transport 9,146 147,613
Residential 12,879 1,683,089
Total 39,038 1,929,046

New Zealand's largest single electricity user is the Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter in Southland, which can demand up to 640 megawatts of power, and annually consumes around 5400 GWh. The smelter effectively has the Manapouri power station as a dedicated power generator to supply it. Other large industrial users include the Tasman pulp and paper mill at Kawerau (175 MW demand), and New Zealand Steel's Glenbrook mill (116 MW demand).

The other major consumers are the cities, with Auckland, the nation's largest city, demanding up to 1722 MW and consuming 8679 GWh in 2010-11. Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton and Dunedin are also major consumers, with other large demand centres including Whangarei-Marsden Point, Tauranga, New Plymouth, Napier-Hastings, Palmerston North, Nelson, Ashburton, Timaru-Temuka, and Invercargill.

Read more about this topic:  Electricity Sector In New Zealand

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