this post was submitted on 09 May 2024
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Transpower warns of possible power shortages on Friday (www.rnz.co.nz)
submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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The national electricity grid operator is warning of possible insufficient power generation to meet households' demand on Friday.

Transpower has issued a notice saying there was a risk that power generation and reserves would not meet demand between 7.30am-8.30am.

It said if power generators could not provide enough electricity, Transpower would manage demand to avoid a grid emergency.

"The system operator may instruct the grid owner to disconnect feeders without further notice to connected parties," it said.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (14 children)

MetService has forecast temperatures to plunge overnight, with Christchurch set to fall to -4 degrees Celsius

I tought temperatures below 0°C are common in NZ 🤔

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Common enough; but I wonder if this is a symptom of new generation not keeping up with attempts to reduce emissions. Less coal/gas power generation & less wood-fired heating combining with a cold snap.

But the intent of a grid notice like that is to encourage generators to turn on more supply I think - its only a grid emergency notice that indicates supply isn't meeting demand.

The other thing that'll happen is where areas have ripple control they'll turn off hot water & street lights & whatnot to reduce demand as well.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Common enough; but I wonder if this is a symptom of new generation not keeping up with attempts to reduce emissions. Less coal/gas power generation & less wood-fired heating combining with a cold snap.

Yeah, I guess coal/gas power.still needed during the colder months.

"We will work with lines companies to, as a last resort, switch off power to locations for a short period of time."

Asked if she could guarantee this wouldn't happen during the colder months, Bramley said no.

"No power system can absolutely guarantee supply but as we've seen today, when industry comes together we can make sure there is enough in the system."

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Or storage for our more intermittent renewables such as wind & solar. Pumped Hydro would have been useful early this morning for instance (and is what lots of places in the rest of the world are doing).

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