Substation land for lease

Press, 16 August 1978, Page 14

Substation land for lease

The Electricity Division of the Ministry of Energy is looking for a new lessee of land which may be the site for a new substation near Prebbleton. The land is the planned site for a switching station which will be built when the Islington substation cannot be expanded further. It was the cause of some controversy in 1974 when Prebbleton land-owners objected to proposals to run power lines over farmland in the area. According to the Christchurch district office, the land has been previously leased as a training ground for horses, and it has been advertised as a possible training track. The district manager of the Electricity Division (Mr G. B. Collie) is reluctant to comment on the ultimate use of the land. There were no detailed plans for the substation, and it was not on the works programme, he said.

He said he did not think the station would service the Prebbleton area, because it was in the Central Canterbury Electric Power Board’s district. It was more likely to be a new terminal when the Islington substation had reached its capacity.

The substation could be 15 years away, although the general manager of the division in Wellington (Mr P. W. Blakeley) says there is no definite date. “It depends on the rate of growth of population in the area,” he said. The Electricity Division has reserved the right to provide initial landscaping for the substation, and to install suitable stock protection on the lOha site.