Palmerston North work to begin

The final stages of Powerco’s $27.4 million, five-year electricity investment programme in Palmerston North is about to get underway. 

Powerco’s service contractor Downer will be installing larger capacity underground electricity cables between the Ferguson St and Main St substations, Powerco General Manager Electricity Karen Frew says. 

“No power outages are planned for customers for this work. It will involve road works, however, along parts of Ferguson and Princess streets, and a small section of Main Street. 

“To allow the work to be carried out safely, traffic management will be needed at times. I want to personally thank our customers and businesses on the work routes and the wider Palmerston North community for their patience and understanding while these essential works are carried out,” Karen Frew says. 

“We appreciate this is a busy stretch of road in the CBD, and we’re communicating with council, residents and businesses along the route to make sure people are informed of the work and how it may affect their premises.” 

Once the new underground power cables are installed, work will begin to remove the power poles and lines along Main St-SH3 between Powerco’s Keith St and Main St substations. 

The overhead power line was constructed in September 2016 to temporarily secure the electricity supply to the city’s CBD, following the failure of one of the three underground cables supplying the Main Street substation.

Since 2018, Powerco has been working on a series of major electricity upgrade projects for the Palmerston North community to expand, renew and rebalance its assets to ensure customers continue to have a secure electricity supply now and in the future. 

The projects are:

• Construction of a new substation on the corner of Linton and Ferguson streets - complete
• Installation of a second transformer at the new substation - complete
• Construction of a new indoor 33kV switchroom at the Linton substation - complete
• Construction of two new underground circuits from Linton substation to the new Ferguson St substation – complete
• Installation of larger capacity cables between Ferguson and Main Street substations
• Removal of power poles and overhead lines between Keith St and Main St substations

To help people stay informed, Powerco has set up a dedicated webpage which will be kept up to date as information becomes available.