High voltage learning during the Christchurch earthquakes

The earthquake recovery for the Christchurch distribution network is moving forward with the 'pull' of eighteen 900 metre lengths of 66,000 volt cable to link McFaddens zone substation to Dallington substation. The complete run is 5km long, but due to the fact the cables will separately conduct all three phases, then 18x 900m lengths is what is needed. This is the first stage of a programme that will effectively give Christchurch a 66,000 volt 'ring circuit', which enables 'backfeeding' should one section of the circuit fail. The McFaddens - Dallington underground 66kV circuit. Red circles are cable joints. The cables will be laid by contractor Cable Layers, and are scheduled to commence the first stage around the 5th of December. I will cover this in my next post.  This is the first stage in a plan by Orion to consolidate the 66kV underground Christchurch distribution network and provide an even more reliable supply of electricity to the earthquake-...

Good news.. Orion is not far away from starting to replace the 66kV quake-damaged underground power cables. See here for the story from SCIRT. I'll do my best to get photos and video of the laying, jointing and terminating of these circuits. Stay tuned!

It has been a long time in between posts for me.. A busy time! CPIT Electrical had nearly 100 applications for a 16-place midyear intake for the Pretrade Electrician class. We put two more classes on and are teaching 48 as a consequence. HOPEFULLY the housing rebuild will start soon (its shown no signs so far) and all these students will hopefully gain apprenticeships. Steve from Connetics texted me on Friday night to say that he had to repair another 11kV cable fault on an earthquake damaged cable. It has been 18 months since the Feb 22 2011 Magnitude 6.3 earthquake and the damage to the underground network is still being repaired. 11kV PILC aluminium cable (with pen for scale) The 11kV PILC (paper insulated, lead covered) with HDPE (high density polyethylene) came from Kotuku Crescent in Woolston. Once again the classic 'kink' appears in an underground cable. In a media release , distribution network owner/operator Orion stated that from all earthquakes, the tot...

Well, a new year is upon us. Mayans? Nah! Things that have happened since the last post (not in any particular order): 23rd December 2011 a Magnitude 6 earthquake occurred in the Christchurch area, initiating a swarm of quakes offshore, prompting tsunami concerns and the GNS to report the aftershocks could go on for decades. Being only 3km from the epicentre, our house received further damage, as well as thousands more. The quake was extremely violent and knocked my wife off her feet even though she was bracing herself in a doorway. Scary stuff. Red Zones have been announced around Canterbury, in which property owners have been offered 2007 Rateable Value prices for their properties by CERA (Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority), a New Zealand Government Department established due to the quakes with Roger Sutton as CEO. Our own property was declared blue/ green zone , which means we could rebuild, but with a stronger foundation and after a geotech report on our prope...