Partial power restoration is on the way for Northland and some people have already been reconnected.

Around 11am, a 220 kV transmission tower in a field near Glorit fell unexpectedly. The tower carries two separate high capacity circuits, carrying most of Northland’s power needs, so it caused a power outage to Northland. Transpower is restoring as much capacity as possible through its lower capacity 110 kV network. However, until one of the larger 220 kV circuits is returned to service there will be insufficient electricity available to fully power the region.

Transpower’s crews are on the site of the fallen tower, working through options to restore further power to Northland.

Transpower in its System Operator role has been able to reconfigure the power system to provide power including from local sources, such as the geothermal generation at Ngāwhā.

Transpower has issued an operational Grid Emergency Notice, which gives a timeframe for the emergency to 12 noon tomorrow as an interim period, and it will be updated prior to 12 noon based on further assessments. A return to service time for the impacted circuits has not been confirmed.

Transpower has made the area where the tower fell safe and is working hard to return a 220kV circuit to service. At this stage we do not know what the cause for the tower falling was. There will be a full investigation, but our priority now is restoring power to the region.

More details will be provided on Transpower’s website and Facebook page. People can also check the websites of their retailers and local lines companies for up-to-date outage information.

A correction: Earlier today we said the tower that fell was near Kumeu, however it is further north on SH16 near Glorit.

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