NZ Weather Forum

20 June 2006

Transpower Media Release

New Zealand's electricity use reached record levels last evening, requiring careful management of the available generation.

As System Operator, Transpower recorded a New Zealand peak demand of 6630 MW (megawatts) between 5.30 and 6pm.

This surpassed by almost 2% the previous half hour record of 6513 MW, recorded during a severe storm in August 2004.

The North Island peak demand was 4425 MW, beating the previous peak of 4385 MW.
Demand was particularly strong in the upper North Island. The instantaneous peak electricity demand observed in the Auckland/Northland region was 2093 MW at 5.50pm, almost 5% higher than the previous peak demand for the region of 1998 MW set last winter.

Overall demand in the South Island was slightly below record levels, but there was a new instantaneous peak demand in the upper South Island region (Christchurch north) of 1049 MW, 1% up on last year's record of 1039 MW.

The record power demand across the country last evening required the System Operator to issue a notice calling on generators to offer all available generation, and lines companies to reduce demand where possible (most commonly, by temporarily cutting hot water heating).

With an improvement in the weather, peak electricity demand this evening is expected to be slightly lower.

For further information visit http://www.transpower.co.nz.

Has the snow melt increased the levels at Tekapo, Gary?

So thats why Macandrew bay had cold water instead of hot last night.

I had nothing to do with it - don't rely on electricity for heating thank goodness.

Foggy Hamilton wrote:Has the snow melt increased the levels at Tekapo, Gary?

The lake levels are up mostly (Tekapo slightly above average for this time of year, Pukaki very slightly below the yearly average), and will continue to rise as the bulk of this snow begins to melt, so great news there.

Flutterbye wrote:I...don't rely on electricity for heating thank goodness.

Haha, me neither! For the last few months, people at Meridian/Twizel have been taking the piss out of me for still having two "dirty old woodburners" and wetbacks in my house, which require the gathering and storage of firewood, as well as mucho cleaning...they all smugly told me about their clean, efficient heat pumps...hahahahahaaaaa...how I laughed at them all last week. I was tempted to call each and every one and ask them if they were warm enough, or whether they wanted to come round to my place and warm up!

Gary Roberts wrote:

Flutterbye wrote:I...don't rely on electricity for heating thank goodness.

Haha, me neither! For the last few months, people at Meridian/Twizel have been taking the piss out of me for still having two "dirty old woodburners" and wetbacks in my house, which require the gathering and storage of firewood, as well as mucho cleaning...they all smugly told me about their clean, efficient heat pumps...hahahahahaaaaa...how I laughed at them all last week. I was tempted to call each and every one and ask them if they were warm enough, or whether they wanted to come round to my place and warm up!

Man I swear, when I win lotto if I ever buy tickets, i'm gonna build a house with a wind turbine, solar panels and a battery bank with inverter and MAKE MY OWN POWER! MWAHAHAHA! And sell it to Helen and Don at exorbitant prices... That'll teach them!

Andrew Massie wrote:Man I swear, when I win lotto if I ever buy tickets, i'm gonna build a house with a wind turbine, solar panels and a battery bank with inverter and MAKE MY OWN POWER! MWAHAHAHA! And sell it to Helen and Don at exorbitant prices... That'll teach them!

Heh...solar and wind power solutions are very popular amongst Twizel Meridian staff. I've help install many PV and wind rigs over the last few years.

I was looking at the spot prices for wholesale power, at that time here in auckland it got to $91,000 per MWh or $91 per kWh, now thats exorbitant! I wonder if anyone actually had to pay that rate?

ricky wrote:I was looking at the spot prices for wholesale power, at that time here in auckland it got to $91,000 per MWh or $91 per kWh, now thats exorbitant! I wonder if anyone actually had to pay that rate?

Auckland has the wind (albeit somewhat unreliable) and the Mackenzie has sunshine. Good reasons for investing in wind and solar!

they are building wind turbines on the coastline here where i live
but there was lots of oposition (and just as much support too)
oppostion mainly came from affected land owners and local iwi

Manukau heads observer wrote:they are building wind turbines on the coastline here where i live
but there was lots of oposition (and just as much support too)
oppostion mainly came from affected land owners and local iwi

I sympathise a wee bit with the opposition, but in the end I think wind turbines are one of the better (or at least less objectionable) options.

People want the electricity, but they don't want the generators in their backyard. Human nature I guess.

got to be -3.8 oC colder than other days for the same day of the year here
so far -2oC less than normal for june here...(from my own records for last 5 years)
see:
http://www.weather-display.com/windy/gb ... taout.html


-2oC is a big difference!

but the next low will bring a bit warmer ENE to NE winds here, il.e more normal temperatures, so that -2 will start to drop as the month progresses, but unless the rest of the month is +2oC higher than normal, its going to be a much colder than normal june
(not getting much grass growth here now (when nornaly june is pretty good for grass growth in this district)

For the record, to get the degree's symbol "°", Make sure num lock is on, hold down the Alt key, and press 2 4 8 on the numerical keypad, then release the Alt key

2oC just isn't the same as 2°C

tgsnoopy wrote:For the record, to get the degree's symbol "°", Make sure num lock is on, hold down the Alt key, and press 2 4 8 on the numerical keypad, then release the Alt key

2oC just isn't the same as 2°C

Heh. If you're using MS Windows, you can also generate that symbol via the 'Character Map' tool, which is usually hidden away in:

START/PROGRAMS/ACCESSORIES/SYSTEM TOOLS

But that's a wee bit clumsy. Your way is much better and faster.

I keep forgetting that it's 248

I'll see if I can add a button to make it easier - might be useful on a weather forum.

If you want to check the state of the hydro lakes you can see them here:

http://comitfree.co.nz/fta/ftaPage.hydrology

As you'll see they're about the same as last year and not too far off average.

Steven Graham wrote:I'll see if I can add a button to make it easier - might be useful on a weather forum.

Excellent idea.

If you want to check the state of the hydro lakes you can see them here:

http://comitfree.co.nz/fta/ftaPage.hydrology

As you'll see they're about the same as last year and not too far off average.

You can see that we've already had to generate off a lot of the gains from this week due to high demand. On the plus side there is still a huge amount of snow around waiting to melt into the lakes.

Steven Graham wrote:I keep forgetting that it's 248

Maaaate! It's such and easy number to remember

tgsnoopy wrote:

Steven Graham wrote:I keep forgetting that it's 248

Maaaate! It's such and easy number to remember

°°°°°°°°°°°
Thank you... It's great to learn something new every day

Fujita Phil wrote:

tgsnoopy wrote: Maaaate! It's such and easy number to remember

°°°°°°°°°°°
Thank you... It's great to learn something new every day

Quick riddle...what does the following mean?:

° ° ° ° ° °

what Gary?

six degrees below?

James wrote:six degrees below?

Six degrees of seperation.

tgsnoopy wrote:For the record, to get the degree's symbol "°", Make sure num lock is on, hold down the Alt key, and press 2 4 8 on the numerical keypad, then release the Alt key

2oC just isn't the same as 2°C

You are a fountain of knowledge.

I have to admit, when I gave it a shot, a thought did cross my mind that you were having a wee joke. But violla! It worked.