Hydro Saver scheme ready

Press, 18 November 1989, Page 8

Hydro Saver scheme ready

PA Wellington A scheme to manage the demand of large electricity users and save fossil fuel use equal to 25,000 tonnes of coal a year has been started, by Electricorp Marketing and Trans power. ’■■'•" The Hydro Saver scheme allows electricity demand to be quickly reduced when a large power station suddenly stops production, which might happen up to 10 times a year, usually for about 30 minutes. Customers taking part in the scheme will allow their power supply to be cut at such times and will be fully compensated for loss of production and start-up costs. Even after compensation had been paid, the scheme would be cheaper than the present method of keeping spare capacity available at hydro stations, Electricon) Marketing’s commercial de-

velopment manager, Dr Bruce Harker, said.' The scheme was designed so more power could be generated by hydro stations, he said. Electricorp presently keeps 250 MW of spare capacity — more than the ■ peak demand of the Wellington Municipal Electricity Department — in readiness for sudden losses of production. Hydro Saver will allow spare capacity to be cut to 50MW by reducing demand in emergencies. Electricorp Marketing, Transpower (the Electricorp subsidiary which runs the national grid) and New Zealand Steel had been running a yearlong trial of the scheme with impressive results, Dr Harker said. A third of the $2 million savings in fossil fuel use possible under the I scheme had been made with New Zealand Steel, he said.