Draft report on “transmission to enable renewables [Closing date: 2008/05/09 17:00:00 GMT+12]

The Commission invites submissions on the draft report on transmission to enable renewables.

The report contains information on potential wind, hydro, and geothermal generation sites in New Zealand and the transmission investments needed to support generation from renewable sources. 

This draft report on transmission to enable renewables is provided for the purpose of enabling the identification of potential opportunities for efficient management of the grid including investment in upgrades and transmission alternatives.

The report and the information in it should not be used for any purpose other than to prepare submissions on the issues raised by the report.

The information contained in this report, and submissions received in relation to it, is intended to be used in preparing and finalising the Grid Planning Assumptions and the next Statement of Opportunities.  The Commission will release a draft of the next Statement of Opportunities later this year.

• Draft report on transmission to enable renewables
• Appendix 1: Existing and potential geothermal generation in New Zealand (prepared by the Electricity Commission)
• Appendix 2: NZ hydro schemes (prepared by Parsons Brinckerhoff Associates)
• Appendix 3: Economic wind resource study (prepared by Connell Wagner)
• Appendix 4: Transmission network reinforcement – input for GEM (prepared by System Studies Group)

The Commission is providing interested parties with an opportunity to provide written comments on the draft summary report. To assist the Commission in its consideration, please supply evidence of facts to support your views wherever possible.

Comments must be received by the Commission by no later than 5 pm on 9 May 2008.

Please note that comments received after this deadline are unlikely to be considered.

The Commission’s preference is to receive comments in electronic form (Microsoft Word).  It is not necessary for parties to send the Commission hard copies of their comments, unless it is not possible to do so electronically.  Comments in electronic form should be emailed with “Transmission to enable renewables” in the subject header. 

Comments should be sent to:

info@electricitycommission.govt.nz

Maree McGregor
Electricity Commission
Level 7, ASB Bank Tower
2 Hunter Street
PO Box 10041
Wellington 6143

Tel: 04 471 8631
Fax: 04 460 8879

The Commission will acknowledge receipt of all comments by email.  Please contact Maree McGregor at the Commission if you do not receive acknowledgement of your comments and/or requests within two business days.

To foster an informed and transparent process, the Commission intends to publish all comments and/or requests received on its website.

If your comments contain confidential material, please provide the Commission with both confidential and public versions of your comments, in both electronic and hard copy forms.  The responsibility for ensuring that confidential information is not included in a public version of comments rests entirely with the party making the comments.

Parties should note that the contents of comments provided to the Commission will be among the information the Commission holds which is subject to the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).

If the Commission receives a request for the release of information contained in comments, it will be required to consider the release of those comments, in whole or in part, in terms of the criteria set out in the OIA.  This would be done in consultation with the party providing the comments.  The Commission can withhold official information in certain circumstances.  The grounds for the Commission withholding official information are set out in the OIA.  Any decision by the Commission to withhold information is subject to appeal to the Ombudsman.