Orion New Zealand Limited (Orion) is an

electricity distribution Electric power distribution is the final stage in the delivery of electric power; it carries electricity from the transmission system to individual consumers. Distribution substations connect to the transmission system and lower the transmissi ...

company, based in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, New Zealand. The company was formed under its current name in December 1998. Orion is owned by

Christchurch City Council The Christchurch City Council is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Mauger, wh ...

(89.3%) and

Selwyn District Council Selwyn District Council is the territorial authority for the Selwyn District of New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () ...

(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 Building 54

Orion is responsible for electricity distribution in

and the Selwyn District, bounded to the north and south by the Waimakariri and

Rakaia River The Rakaia River is in the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand's South Island. The Rakaia River is one of the largest braided rivers in New Zealand. The Rakaia River has a mean flow of and a mean annual seven-day low flow of . In the 1850s, Eu ...

s and to the east and west by the

Southern Alps The Southern Alps (; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) is a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The name "Southern ...

and the Pacific Ocean respectively. Within this region, it delivers 3,165 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year to 190,000 customers.

History

Prior to 1989, electricity distribution and retailing in Christchurch and Selwyn was the responsibility of four entities: the Christchurch City Council Municipal Electricity Department (MED), Riccarton Electricity, the Port Hills Energy Authority, and the Central Canterbury Electric Power Board. In 1989, all four companies entered a joint venture, named Southpower. The 1998 electricity sector reforms required all electricity companies to separate their distribution and retailing businesses. Southpower retained its distribution business and sold its retail business to

Meridian Energy Meridian Energy Limited is a New Zealand electricity generator and retailer. The company generates the largest proportion of New Zealand's electricity, generating 35 percent of the country's electricity in the year ending December 2014, and is ...

. In December 1998, the lines business was renamed Orion New Zealand.

Electricity network

The Orion network consists of over 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 an 11 kV distribution network. Some western parts of Christchurch, Banks Peninsula and the Selwyn district are 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).

Network development

Orion's distribution network suffered significant damage following the

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

, 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 Queen Elizabeth II Park was a multi-use stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand, located in a large park of the same name. The stadium had a capacity of 25,000 people and was built in 1973 to host the 1974 British Commonwealth Games, with a tempora ...

. A new zone substation was built in the Rawhiti Domain to replace New Brighton zone substation, with the temporary overhead line extended to reach it. Replacement single 66 kV cables from Bromley to Dallington and Rawhiti were completed in 2015, allowing the temporary overhead lines to be removed. A new single 66 kV cable was also constructed from Dallington to the McFaddens Road zone substation in Saint Albans to provide a second supply route for Dallington. With the increasing demand in the northern suburbs, a new zone substation was constructed at Waimakariri Road in Harewood, connected to

Papanui Papanui is a major suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is situated five kilometers to the northwest of the city centre. Papanui is a middle socio-economic area with a population of 3,645 consisting predominantly of Pākehā (NZ Eur ...

(Greers Road) zone substation by a single 66 kV cable. This offloaded the northwestern suburbs of Christchurch from Papanui. To secure a second supply to both Waimakariri and Rawhiti zone substations, a new single 66 kV cable will be constructed to link them via Marshland. This will allow the QEII Park generators to be removed and reinstalled in the

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

area to secure supply in the northern suburbs. Eventually, a new zone substation at Marshland will be built to offload some northern suburbs from Papanui.

Subsidiaries

* Connetics Limited, electrical contracting business

References

External links