14 | Hawke’s Bay: Centralines REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT T T Richard Loader Cyclone wreaks havoc with network The Centralines team worked long and hard to restore damaged infrastructure after Cyclone Gabrielle. CHRISWHITE AUTOELECTRICAL Full Field Service & Breakdown 24 hours For All Electrical Requirements: Cars Trucks Tractors Automotive Batteries Camper vans Air Conditioning Heavy machinery Boats Horse loats 06 858 9921 027 445 9432 c.whiteautolec@xtra.co.nz 24 Takapau Rd, Waipukurau PO Box 181, Waipukurau . i l . . , i , i 14 Kenilworth Street, Waipawa 4210 P 06 857 8327 M 027 454 8178 E admin@chbengineering.co.nz W chbengineering.co.nz For All Your General Engineering Requirements · Shearplant and woolpress servicing · Earmarker and clipper blade sharpening & servicing · Fabrication, repairs & maintenance · Mobile welding, so we can come to you · CNC Plasma Cutting, Guillotine and Folding With its roots stemming back to the early days of electricity and local coal fired generation, electricity lines company Centralines has been part of the very fabric of Central Hawke’s Bay (CHB) for 101 years. Owned and operated by the community, the Centralines team look after a region that stretches from the Ruahine Ranges through to the ocean, as far south as Herbertville and as far north as Te Aute on State Highway 2. Encompassing large areas of farmland, along with the main township of Waipukurau, and the smaller township of Waipawa, Centralines looks after the underground and overhead infrastructure that services just over 9000 connections. There is an even spread between residential and rural connections, with just a handful of industries including two meat processors and a large coolstore. While business as usual for Centralines is all about executing a planned programme of work to ensure the network is maintained in a reliable and safe state, and that the infrastructure is resilient, when events such as Cyclone Gabrielle unleash its natural fury, the Centralines team change gears into emergency mode. Jason Larkin, GM – Centralines & Commercial Manager says the network was heavily impacted by damage to overhead lines, predominantly in rural areas. He says much of that damage resulted from flooded rivers and trees and large branches being brought down by the cyclone. “The sheer number of trees that came down in the cyclone across the whole area in the northern/eastern parts of the North Island meant there was a heavy impact on Centralines network with about half the network’s customers cut off immediately following the cyclone. “By prioritising that work, ensuring we got the main substations and feeders clear of trees and back operating, enabled us to get those impacted customer numbers down pretty quickly. “We were then able to focus on getting to the outlying areas and doing repair work there to bring those customers back on.” The work took the Centralines team a little under a week to complete, though Jason acknowledges there were a couple of areas near the coast that could not be accessed till flood waters had receded sufficiently to enable flood clean-up to take place. “Overall, the flood response from the Centralines team was first class. We worked very closely with the Central Hawke’s Bay District Council to not only coordinate our response with the overall Emergency Response Management that they are responsible for delivering, but also assist them directly with the impact to some of their facilities such as pumping stations. We arranged for generation to be brought to site to get those key critical pieces of local infrastructure back up and running.” Acknowledging that the Centralines team worked some very hard and long hours, Jason says that safety was paramount and at times that meant pulling back from work sites where flood waters were rising. “We really focused on delivering that response safely, and that also meant trying to limit work to daylight hours unless it was absolutely essential. “With the damage to roading post cyclone, being out after dark was not necessarily a safe proposition. “Land was still moving and roads still slipping. It even took some time for river levels to go down and bridges deemed safe to cross again. “Fortunately, at that time of year day light lasted for about fourteen hours each day. In addition to the environmental hazards, we were also mindful of the potential risk of fatigue, and fatigue management was also a big part of it.” Proud of the sterling effort made by the team under very trying conditions, Jason makes the point that while they were out in appalling conditions repairing the network and getting power back on for the community, many team members were also impacted in the same way, with damage to their own properties, and no power at home. “That level of empathy by the team was really appreciated by the community and we had huge support, a lot of very positive feedback and perhaps a little too much baking delivered. It was great to keep us going.” As Jason observes, Cyclone Gabrielle has been a wakeup call, not just for the region, but the country on a number of fronts. “We’ve seen bridges washed out, substations flooded, and that has been an eyeopener for the country just how vulnerable our infrastructure and communities are to these increasingly severe and frequent weather events that we are seeing as a consequence of climate change. “Where we are doing repairs, building back better is definitely part of the formula to ensure network resilience, as well as preparing our network to meet Central Hawke’s Bay’s continued growth and a new wave of electrification as the country decarbonises its economy across energy, industry, transport and agriculture.”
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