Lines, pylons to be removed

Power lines stretching from Port Chalmers to Quarantine Island are to be removed. PHOTO:PETER...
Power lines stretching from Port Chalmers to Quarantine Island are to be removed. PHOTO:PETER MCINTOSH
Otago Harbour will be busy next week as Aurora Energy removes the high-voltage power lines and pylons which have spanned from Port Chalmers to Portobello for more than 60 years.

Weather permitting, the lines will come down first, and then a helicopter and contractors will be used to dismantle the Portobello pylon next Saturday.

Pylons will then be removed at Quarantine Island (on September 14), Port Chalmers (September 16) and Goat Island (September 24).

An Aurora Energy spokeswoman said the pylon at Portobello Marine Laboratory was the largest and would be the first to come down.

“Attached power lines will already be removed by then.

“It will come down in nine pieces.”

Following the removal of the Quarantine Island pylon, Aurora Energy planned to do remediation planting and work where the tower was situated, she said.

The removal of the pylon in Bellevue Pl, in Port Chalmers, will be a welcome sight for Clive Matthewson.

The pylon is in his garden and is affectionately named “my ugly garden friend”.

Its removal would improve the harbour views for everyone in the city, he said.

“The harbour is beautiful, but when you go and stick some power poles and lines right in the middle of it, it’s clearly not attractive.

“I am pleased that it’s going.”

In all, six steel lattice towers will be removed in what is the second phase of Aurora Energy’s Otago Harbour Crossing project.

The ageing towers were installed in 1957, and have been replaced with two new submarine cables spanning the harbour floor, between Port Chalmers and Portobello.

The cables are larger, 11kV high-voltage cables, capable of carrying 300 amps to 350 amps of power each, compared with the 150 amps of the old above-ground cable.

The spokeswoman said it meant Aurora Energy could better cater to growth expected for the popular Otago Peninsula suburbs

and it would also mean taller ships could use the shipping channel and the docks in the upper harbour.

“Sea birds will benefit too, as the lines currently represent a very real hazard for them, particularly on a dull day when visibility is poor.’’

The Harbour Crossing Project is due to be completed next month.

 

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