More needs to be done to compensate affected businesses and increase Northland’s energy resilience, says Whangārei Mayor and Northland Mayoral Forum Chair Vince Cocurullo.

He was responding to the latest investigation into the 20 June Transpower tower collapse that left more than 80,000 residents and businesses without power.

The Electrical Authority review, released on 25 September, investigated what went wrong, and highlighted actions to mitigate the risk of similar events happening in the future.

“This review provides more evidence that the impact of such a large-scale outage to the Northland region is unsustainable. More needs to be done to safeguard communities and businesses in Northland,” says Cocurullo.

"Speaking as Chair of the Northland Mayoral Forum, what we need to see now is action on the recommendations that come from the Electrical Authority report. Northland deserves a reliable, resilient, future-proof power supply to safeguard our economy and the health of our residents. We also need to see financial restitution for our region, which suffered an estimated loss of up to $80m as a direct result of the power outage.

“While we accept the recommendations that come from the Electrical Authority investigation, we need to see the recommendations implemented. We’re tired of apologies. We want action.”

In addition to giving recommendations to improve processes, the Electrical Authority review also recognised the critical role of locally distributed generation, such as the Ngāwhā geothermal power station, in restoring power to Northland.

Mayor Cocurullo says the Northland Mayoral Forum is keen to see more locally-generated and supplied energy infrastructure.

“We’re seeing more interest than ever in local power generation, which we fully support. The recent granting of consent for a 172-hectare Bream Bay solar farm will enable Meridian Energy to generate and supply 150-200GWh of electricity annually, giving more independence from the national grid, and more local energy resilience.

“Now we need to see network upgrades to enable the new load and use. This is about collaboration and cooperation to increase our regional resilience, to provide a reliable, future-proof supply of electricity for Northland.

“We will continue to work with Transpower to ensure the best outcome for Northland is achieved. “

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