Pokeno powers into the future
A new indoor 110-22kV substation has been constructed, with additional project works including undergrounding of existing 22kV feeders in the area and new 22kV feeders to meet the needs of Pokeno township, industrial park and the rapidly growing greenfield residential subdivisions.
Situated just south of the Bombay Hills, Pokeno has quickly expanded from a small village of 150 people to a township with more than a thousand new homes and an industrial centre. The area’s population is predicted to grow to 10,000 in the next ten years as it serves the expansion of Auckland.
Counties Power Chief Executive Judy Nicholl says the company is proud to bring a quality power supply to the community that future-proofs the northern Waikato township, industrial park and wider rural area.
We’ve worked hard to offer Pokeno the only indoor substation in the region, a building designed to minimise visual impact on our community and deliver a safe and reliable power supply now and into the future. From concept to completion, the project was fast-tracked to keep up with ever-increasing industrial and residential demand. The entire network has been upgraded, with a total of 13km of new high voltage cabling installed.” — Judy Nicholl, Counties Power Chief Executive
Large industrial consumers in the area include Hynds Pipe Systems and infant formula manufacturers Synlait Milk and Yashili New Zealand Dairy Company. The additional works ensures redundancy of supply for the area and has the capacity to enable further growth for industries within the Pokeno area.
A public open day was held for the local community before the substation went live, with around 500 people taking guided tours through the new substation.
“The Open Day was a unique opportunity to open the gates and present this project to our community, our wider employees, our contractors, local iwi and our stakeholders before it went ‘live’. We thank the wider Pokeno community, including the Pokeno Community Committee and Community Patrol and the Waikato District Council, for their support and understanding while we completed one of the largest projects in Counties Power’s 95-year history,” Ms Nicholl says.
View the Pokeno Substation Public Open Day video and the time lapse construction video here https://www.countiespower.com/watch-us
The substation was built by Cassidy Construction, with the civil and electrical design completed by Ergo Consulting. The internal electrical fitout was predominantly completed by Counties Power.