A sunny initiative meets a wintry brouhaha

When hydro stations like Clyde (above) are operating at full capacity, they can no longer ramp up to meet peak demand. (Image: NZME)

Pattrick Smellie

Tue, 04 Jul 2023

Every winter, as temperatures drop and days get shorter and colder, the national grid operator Transpower’s job of ensuring enough electricity to meet national demand gets trickier.In the past, the problems have been greatest when there’s been too little water in hydro storage lakes. In the worst of those winters, although not for many years now, New Zealanders have been called on to save power.There are a number of reasons why things haven’t been so tight as to require emergency power savings campaigns. Mostly, there’s...

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