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| Industry | Electricity distribution |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Hamilton, New Zealand |
Key people | Garth Dibley, CEO (since Sep 2014)[1] |
| Owner | WEL Energy Trust |
| Website | www |
WEL Networks Limited is anelectricity distribution company, serving the northern and centralWaikato region of New Zealand.[2] WEL is the sixth largest electricity distribution company in New Zealand, with 100,142 connections and 7,021 km (4,363 mi) of lines and underground cables. The company is 100% owned by the WEL Energy Trust.[3]: 25
WEL was formed whenlegislation in 1988 amalgamated the Central Waikato Electric Power Board withHamilton City Council's Electricity Division from 1989 to form Waikato Electricity Limited. After amalgamation, ownership of WEL was vested in the Waikato Electricity Authority (WEA). WEA formedWEL Energy Trust in 1993, with the first election in June, so that the community could have some ownership of WEL. In 1992 a third of WEL was sold toUtilicorp for almost $40m, a third retained for the Trust and a third given to customers. The Electricity Industry Reform Act 1998 forced WEL to sell its retail business. It sold to the State owned (but later bought as NGC byVector Limited) Natural Gas Corporation for $89.9m. The Trust then bought back all WEL's shares to become its sole owner. In 2001 WEL was renamed WEL Networks Ltd.
After the Trust's 2003 elections it reduced grants given to community groups and started paying discounts to customers.[4] By 2014 the Trust had paid over $240 million to customers in discounts, but had also invested over $60 million in community and energy efficiency grants. In 2014–15, over $2m was paid in grants.[5]
WEL Networks formed a joint venture in 2010 withWaipā Networks andCrown Fibre Holdings to establish Ultra-fast Fibre Limited, a company that owns and operates the fibre network in Hamilton, New Plymouth, Tauranga, and Whanganui.[6] In 2016, WEL and Waipā Networks paid $189 million to take 100% control of the Ultra-Fast Fibre company.[7] In 2020, WEL and Waipā Networks sold their interest in Ultra-fast Fibre to Japanese-ownedFirst State Investments for $854 million.[8]
In 2022, the company announced the construction of New Zealand's first utility-scalebattery energy storage system (BESS), to be located atHuntly. The system is rated at 35 MW, and is capable of storing energy equivalent to the daily demand of over 2000 homes.[9]
WEL's distribution area covers theHamilton City and the majority of theWaikato District, including the towns ofNgāruawāhia, Huntly,Te Kauwhata andRaglan. Thedistribution network is supplied from thenational grid at three grid exit points (GXPs): Hamilton (Ruakura Road),Te Kowhai, andHuntly. WEL Networks uses 33,000 volts forsubtransmission and 11,000 volts for distribution.[10]: 30–31 As is standard in New Zealand, electricity is delivered to homes at 230/400 volts (phase-to-neutral/phase-to-phase).
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Distribution and LV overhead lines | 2,895 km |
| Distribution and LV underground cables | 2,182 km |
| Subtransmission lines and cables | 446 km |
| Customer connections | 95,226 |
| System maximum demand | 280 MW |
| System energy delivered | 1,283 GWh |
| SAIDI (average outage duration) | 86 min |
| SAIFI (average outage frequency) | 1.03 p.a. |
As a natural monopoly electricity lines business, WEL Networks is subject to regulation under theCommerce Act 1986. However, as WEL Networks is 100% owned by a consumer trust, it is not subject to price-quality regulation,[12] but is subject to Information Disclosure regulation. TheCommerce Commission publishes a wide range of Information Disclosure data provided by WEL Networks, and prepares analysis and summaries of that data.[13]
Te Uku Wind Farm is located atTe Uku nearRaglan. It has a capacity of 64 MW[14][15] using 28 wind turbines. Construction was completed in March 2011,[16] at a cost of $200 million.[17] The farm covers an area of approximately 200 hectares (2.0 km2).[18] The wind farm is jointly owned by WEL Networks andMeridian Energy.[19]
Resource consent was granted in May 2008[20] and appeals were resolved by November 2008. Construction of the wind farm began in 2010.[21] Hick Bros Civil and Spartan Construction won an award for outstanding technical and environmental planning.[22] The wind farm was officially opened by Prime MinisterJohn Key in February 2011.[23] Te Uku was fully operational on 10 March 2011.[24]
Te Uku Windfarm is controlled fromWellington where Meridian has its control centre for running all of their New Zealand Hydro and Wind generation assets.
The windfarm is linked to the national grid atTe Kowhai substation by about 17 km (11 mi) of 33 kV lines on 159[25] steel poles built on concrete pile foundations[26] and an underground cable from just west of Waitetuna Valley Rd to Cogswell Rd,[27] a total of about 25 km (16 mi).[28][29][30]
On a particularly cold winter night in August 2021, the National Grid operatorTranspower, gave an emergency instruction to WEL Networks to reduce its demand from the grid by 20%. This resulted in power cuts for around 18,000 WEL Networks customers. The demand restrictions required of WEL Networks were significantly greater than for other networks.[31] Transpower subsequently admitted an error in their calculation of the required demand reduction. WEL Networks estimated that they would only have been required to disconnect 1,373 customers (instead of almost 18,000), if the error had not been made.[32] Transpower and was eventually fined $150,000 for their part in contributing to the loss of supply to customers.[33]
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