ENA CEO Graeme Peters discusses much-needed sector investment in resilience and the transition to a low-carbon, electrified economy with Morning Report's Kim Hill.
ENA CEO Graeme Peters on what lines companies learned from February’s cyclone
The phone calls started soon after the wind died down. Members of the Electricity Networks Association are ringing. Frustrated, disappointed, angry – noting how many of their customers are without power. Most homes and businesses are in the dark because trees have fallen into nearby power lines, causing outages from hours to weeks.
As electricity lines companies around New Zealand last week rallied to provide an unprecedented level of support to their cyclone-afflicted colleagues in the North Island, the country's logistics fragility hampered proceedings.
Electricity sector praise from Minister of Energy and Resources Megan Woods has been gratefully acknowledged, but the ENA warns the full post-cyclone power recovery in the North Island will be a long-term project.
A Ministerial inquiry into land use causing woody debris and sediment-related damage in Tairāwhiti/Gisborne and Wairoa has been embraced by the Electricity Networks Association (ENA).
Electricity Networks Association chief executive Graeme Peters emphasised the need for an urgent review of the Electricity (Hazards from Trees) Regulations 2003 when interviewed on Morning Report by Guyon Espiner this Wednesday morning (22/2/2023).
An unprecedented level of industry support and resource is being provided to North Island electricity lines companies whose networks have been devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle.