Do we need a new transmission line stretching 220 km across Waikato and South Auckland?
In the second of our five-part series, reporter Chris Daniels asks people closely involved in the debate. Meridian Energy chief executive Keith Turner, whose company runs New Zealand’s biggest windfarm, supports the plan. He argues that if people want clean, green sources of electricity, they have to be prepared to upgrade the grid to carry that power to homes and businesses. New Zealand’s electricity grid is so overworked that some lines cannot be taken out of action for servicing, says an industry expert. “That is unheard of in the Western developed world,” says Meridian Energy chief executive Keith Turner, a 30-year veteran of the energy sector and one of its experts on transmission and the national grid. While other generators continue to burn fossil fuels in power stations and draw up plans for new coal-fired stations, Dr Turner has said Meridian will pursue only renewable electricity generation options – hydro and wind in particular. The company runs power stations on the Waitaki
