Chapter 1: Introduction
National Grid
1. New Zealand’s high-voltage electricity transmission network is known as the National Grid. It carries electrical energy across the country, connecting generators of electricity with communities and major industries that require it. The grid is intended to maintain reliable and secure supply of electrical energy, in a way that allows competition among suppliers and retailers, and to provide access to markets for new generators, including those producing what is classified as renewable energy.1
2. The assets in the National Grid are an extensive, linear and connected system of lines and substations in which activities or changes in one part of the system can affect other parts.
3. The operation of the National Grid is governed by the Electricity Act 1992 and instruments under it, and is constrained by engineering imperatives arising from constant changes in demand.
Transpower
4. The National Grid is owned and operated by Transpower New Zealand Limited (Transpower), which also has responsibility for maintaining and developing the network infrastructure.
5. Transpower is a state-owned enterprise, and, as such, is required to exhibit a sense of social responsibility by having regard to the interests of the communities in which it operates, and by endeavouring to accommodate and encourage these interests when able to do so.2
6. The Minister for the Environment has, under section 167 of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), approved Transpower as a requiring authority “for its network operation of supply of line function services”3 –language corresponding with that used in the definition of network utility operator in section 166 of the RMA. This definition includes an electricity operator or electricity distributor as defined in section 2 of the Electricity Act 1992 for the purpose of line function services, which is in turn defined by the same section as “the provision and maintenance of works for the conveyance of electricity”, and “the operation of such works, including the control of voltage and assumption of responsibility for losses of electricity”.
Electricity Commission
7. The Electricity Commission (formerly the Electricity Governance Board) is a Crown entity constituted by the Electricity Act 1992.4 Its principal objectives are to ensure electricity is produced and delivered to all classes of consumers in an efficient, fair, reliable and environmentally sustainable manner, and to promote and facilitate the efficient use of electricity.5
8. The Commission has responsibility for ensuring the efficiency and reliability of the National Grid. One way in which it discharges that responsibility is by considering whether or not to approve Transpower’s investment expenditure on grid upgrade plans.6
9. On 5 July 2007, the Commission made a final decision stating its satisfaction that Transpower’s amended proposal for the Upper North Island Grid Upgrade meets and complies with the applicable requirements, and approving the proposal.
Requirements and applications
10. Transpower has sought two types of authorisation under the RMA for the grid upgrade proposal:
- a) insertion in district plans of the Manukau City Council and six district councils of designations for overhead transmission lines, underground cables, and substations
- b) grant of resource consents for activities associated with construction of the proposed works.
Requirements for designations
11. On 28 May 2007, Transpower gave notice under section 168 of the RMA to each district planning authority of its requirements for designations in the respective district plans that together would authorise all the land-use activities required for the grid upgrade proposal. In summary, the activities include:
- a) replacement, operation and maintenance of the Pakuranga Substation, including construction of a new 220-kilovolt (kV) substation and underground cables and associated works
- b) operation, maintenance and upgrade of the Otahuhu Substation, including construction of a new 220-kV substation and underground cables and associated works
- c) construction, operation and maintenance at Brownhill Road, Manukau City, on a staged basis, of a transition station to connect underground cables and overhead lines (including Tower 5 and additional support structures and parts of underground cables), a 220-kV switching station, and a 400-kV substation, and associated works
- d) construction, operation and maintenance of a double-circuit underground 220-kV cable to convey electricity between Pakuranga Substation and the proposed substation at Brownhill Road and ancillary activities
- e) construction, operation and maintenance of a double-circuit underground 220-kV cable to convey electricity between Otahuhu Substation and the proposed substation at Brownhill Road and ancillary activities
- f) construction, operation and maintenance of a 400 kV-capable overhead transmission line to convey electricity between the proposed substation at Brownhill Road, Manukau City, and the Whakamaru and proposed Whakamaru North Substations in Taupo District (through Manukau City, Franklin, Waikato, Matamata-Piako, Waipa, South Waikato, and Taupo Districts) and ancillary activities
- g) construction, operation and maintenance, on a staged basis, at the Whakamaru North Substation site, Taupo District, of a new 220-kV substation and other components; a new 400-kV substation, including Tower 429 of the overhead line and additional support structures; associated works, and overhead line connections within the designated area; and ancillary activities; and the operation, maintenance and upgrade of the existing 220-kV lines which traverse the site and the existing substation infrastructure at the site.
Applications for resource consents
12. In June 2007, Transpower lodged with the Auckland Regional Council applications for resource consents associated with the construction, installation, use, operation and maintenance of the 220-kV underground transmission cable between Pakuranga Substation and Brownhill Road. The works include earthworks to enable the installation and maintenance of the cable; discharge of contaminants from ancillary activities that produce wastewater or wash water; works in the beds of water courses; and diversion of surface water.
13. In July 2007, Transpower lodged with the Auckland Regional Council applications for resource consents for works within its region for the overhead line. The works include earthworks for construction of tower foundations and access roading and tracking; and discharge of contaminants to land from ancillary activities that produce wastewater or wash water.
14. In July 2007, Transpower lodged with the Waikato Regional Council applications for resource consents for works within its region for the overhead line. The works include vegetation clearance and earthworks associated with tower site preparation and access tracks in high-risk erosion areas; composting of vegetation; drilling of tower foundations below the water table; and discharge to surface water of site water and drilling fluids.
Ministerial call-in
15. On 8 August 2007, the Hon Pete Hodgson, acting for the Minister for the Environment and considering the grid upgrade a proposal of national significance, invoked section 141B of the RMA and called in the notices of requirement and resource consent applications, and directed they be referred for decision to a board of inquiry under sections 146 to 149. In deciding to call in the matter, Minister Hodgson had regard to the following factors:
- a) that it has aroused widespread public concern or interest regarding the actual or likely effect on the environment
- b) that it involves significant use of natural and physical resources
- c) that it affects more than one region and district
- d) that it involves technology, processes or methods which are new to New Zealand and which may affect the environment
- e) that it is likely to result in, or contribute to, significant or irreversible changes to the environment.
16. On 8 September 2007, Minister Hodgson gave public notice of his direction and called for submissions on Transpower’s requirements and resource consent applications to be lodged by 5 October 2007.
17. On 11 September 2007 under section 146 Minister Hodgson appointed a Board of Inquiry to consider and decide on the requirements and resource consent applications. The members of the Board are named above.
18. The Minister received 1244 submissions, of which 899 contained an indication that the submitter wanted to be heard by the Board of Inquiry in support of the submission.
19. On 3 December 2007, the Board of Inquiry (the Board) gave notice that it expected to start the Inquiry hearing on 25 March 2008, and set times for pre-hearing events.
20. On 3 March 2008, the Board gave its decision declining a request by one of the submitters, Dr R J McQueen, for the Inquiry hearing to be postponed until the outcome is known of certain proceedings in the High Court for review of the Electricity Commission’s decision approving the grid upgrade proposal.
21. On 6 March 2008, the Board gave public notice that the Inquiry hearing would start on 25 March 2008. The Board started the hearing on that day, and completed it on 31 October 2008.
Endnotes
1. The meaning given to renewable energy in s 2(1) RMA is relevant to this proceeding.
2. State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986, s 4(1)(c).
3. Resource Management (Approval of Transpower New Zealand Limited as a Requiring Authority) Notice 1994, cl3.
4. Electricity Act 1992, s 172M (as substituted by the Electricity Amendment Act 2004, s 14(1), and amended by Crown Entities Act 2004, s 200).
5. Ibid, s172N (1) (as substituted by the Electricity Amendment Act 2004, s 15).
6. Electricity Governance Rules 2003, Part F, Section 3.
