New Grid Exit Point at Norwood
The demand for electricity is growing, so we're powering up for the future
Background
A growing urban subdivision in Rolleston
The demand for electricity is continuing to grow, with new homes and
businesses settling in Canterbury. We also expect to see a greater demand
from businesses wanting to convert to electricity as a power source.
We want to power a cleaner and brighter future with our community, and this means making sure we have a safe, reliable and resilient power network that
is ready for the future.
What are we doing?
This is how the new GXP could look once built
Orion is working with Transpower to build a new Grid Exit Point (GXP)
at Norwood.
A GXP is a facility where electricity flows from the National Grid, owned by Transpower, to the local distribution network, owned by Orion.
A GXP takes the very high voltages of electricity transported by the National
Grid and transforms it down to 66,000 volts which is used by Orion to
distribute electricity to homes and businesses throughout the region.
The new GXP will include two adjacent substations – a National Grid
Substation, owned by Transpower, and a Zone Substation, owned by Orion.
The new GXP will look much like other Transpower GXP with connections to
new and existing transmission towers, power transformers, electrical
switchgear, control room buildings, overhead lines and a communication mast.
The substation area will be securely fenced, and there will be native planting along the boundary.
You can see a plan of the GXP here.
Where is the new GXP?
Norwood GXP on the corner of Telegraph Road and Highfield Road
The new GXP will be built at the intersection of
Highfield Road and Telegraph Road in rural Norwood
in the Selwyn District - see map.
A GXP is a facility on the electricity network where electricity flows from the National Grid, owned and operated by Transpower, to Orion’s local distribution network.
A GXP takes the power from the very high voltages
used for transport on the National Grid, and transforms them down to the voltages that Orion use to supply homes and businesses in the region.
What are the impacts?
Any potential impacts of the new GXP are addressed by the conditions of the resource consents:
- Noise - when the GXP is complete the operational noise levels will meet the Selwyn District Plan
- Traffic – traffic on Highfield Road or Telegraph Road will not be affected during construction or operation of the GXP
- Visual – the new substations and switchyards will be visible on the site. Over time, native planting proposed around the substation area will provide screening.
You can see what the GXP could look like after the native planting has matured here
What are the benefits?
Building a new GXP is a significant project for Orion. It is a once in a generation investment in regional energy infrastructure and is essential to powering a cleaner and brighter future with our community. The new GXP will accommodate growth in our region, strengthen the security of our network and support decarbonisation.
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The new GXP will ensure our network can meet growth in our region. | The new GXP will allow us to better shift load around the network, improving security and reliability. | The new GXP will support the decarbonisation of our region. The new GXP will draw power from the grid and be capable of adding power to the grid. This means that other local and distributed power sources, such as solar, can feed back into the grid. |
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We're underway, construction begins
Construction of the Norwood GXP started with a ceremonial sod-turning. The Hon Dr Megan Woods, the Minister of Energy and Resources, Minister of Housing, Minister for Building and Construction, Associate Minister of Finance and MP for Wigram, Mark Ryall Transpower GM Grid Delivery, and Orion GM Electricity Network did the honours on a wet and cold day. The new GXP is a once in a generation investment in energy infrastructure for Orion and it's exciting to see work get underway.
Photos
Videos
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With more people and businesses moving into our region, and choosing electricity as their energy of choice, it was with great excitement (despite the rain!) that we recently held a sod-turning ceremony at the site of our new Norwood Grid Exit Point (GXP). The new GXP is an exciting project for Orion and Transpower that will increase our capacity to drawdown power from the national grid by 200MW, or 25%.
