Orion New Zealand Limited
| Industry | Electricity distribution |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Southpower |
| Founded | December 1998 |
| Headquarters | Christchurch, New Zealand |
|
Key people
|
Rob Jamieson, CEO |
| Website | Official website |
Orion New Zealand Limited (Orion) is an electricity distribution company, based in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The company was formed under its current name in December 1998. Orion is owned by Christchurch City Council (89.3%) and Selwyn District Council (10.7%). In 2013, Orion posted a $49m profit, with $32m in dividends going to the shareholding councils. Its last CEO was Roger Sutton, who resigned to become CEO of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority on 13 June 2011.
Orion is responsible for electricity distribution in Christchurch and the Selwyn District, bounded to the north and south by the Waimakariri and Rakaia Rivers and to the east and west by the Southern Alps and the Pacific Ocean respectively. Within this region, it delivers 3,165 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year to 190,000 customers.
The Orion network consists of over 11,000 kilometres (6,800 mi) of lines and cables, 52 zone substations, 10,972 distribution substations and 10,828 transformers. Orion takes power from seven Transpower grid exit points (from east to west): Bromley, Islington, Kimberley, Hororata, Coleridge, Castle Hill and Arthur's Pass. The majority of Christchurch is served by a 66 kV subtransmission network and a 11 kV distribution network. Some western parts of Christchurch, Banks Peninsula and the Selwyn district is served by a mixture of 66 kV and 33 kV subtransmission and 11 kV distribution. As is standard in New Zealand, electricity is delivered to homes at 230/400 volts (phase-to-neutral/phase-to-phase).
Orion's distribution network suffered significant damage following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, especially in the eastern suburbs of Christchurch. In addition, new post-earthquake developments in the northern and southwestern suburbs of Christchurch and the Rolleston-Lincoln area of the Selwyn district are increasing demand on the network in those areas.
The liquefaction from the 2011 earthquake damaged the New Brighton zone substation and the duplicated 66 kV cables linking Dallington and New Brighton zone substations with the Bromley GXP beyond repair. As a temporary solution to get power into the northeastern suburbs, a transformer was brought in to replace New Brighton zone substation and single 66 kV overhead lines were constructed to link the New Brighton transformer and Dallington zone substation to Bromley. To backup the single line supplies, four 1 MW diesel generators were installed at Queen Elizabeth II Park.
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Wikipedia