New Taranaki Base Hospital cable

From August 2023 we're starting work on installing a new underground electricity cable from Brois Street to Taranaki Base Hospital.

The new cable supports the hospital's ongoing upgrade work, and will ensure that electricity supply to the region's main hospital service remains reliable and resilient now and well into the future.

We'll be working hard to ensure that road users, as well as nearby homes and businesses experience minimal disruption. Please be kind to our crews and the traffic management teams who will be working to keep them safe as they work.

The cable route

 

 

Installation phases

Our contractor Northpower will be carrying out the work on our behalf, and they will be carrying out the installation in phases. The work is expected to go through to the end of 2023, weather-depending.

As of 28 August work is happening from the corner of Govett Avenue and Frankley Road down to the corner of Clawton Street. We expect this section of the work to take two-to-three weeks.

Phase one: installing the cable ducting

Starting from 7 August, Northpower will be installing the cable ducting underneath road reserve. They'll be starting on Brois Street near the corner of Glenpark Avenue, and working along the cable route in sections through to the Taranaki Base Hospital complex where a Powerco substation is located.

The work will be conducted as under boring - directional drilling under the road - wherever possible. There may be some areas of the route where ground conditions or other constraints do not allow under boring. In those areas open trenching will be used.

Work will take place during weekdays. 

To keep both crews and members of the public safe, traffic management will be in place throughout the work. That will include stop/go operations, lane closures and footpath diversions. There may also be some road closures associated with this work. 

There are no planned power outages associated with this phase of the work.

 

Phase two: installing the cable

Once the ducting has been installed crews will open up pulling sites along the cable route. The pulling sites are indicated on the map above.

From those sites they'll pull lengths of cable through the ducting. They'll then join the sections of cable up.

 

Phase three: livening the cable

Once the cable has been installed it will be ready for livening.

There will be some planned outages associated with livening the cable. If you're going to be affected by an outage you'll receive advance notification from your retailer (the company you pay your power bill to).

 

We appreciate your patience and co-operation as we carry out this essential work.