When you think of electricity, fibre optics don’t immediately spring to mind.

But lines company Powerco is installing 164km of it around its Coromandel network as part of a new project to improve the resilience of customers’ electricity supply.

Once complete, the company will be installing more ‘smart tech’ to be the network’s ‘eyes and ears’ as far north as Whitianga, and the fibre cable will be used to relay that data both to and from those devices to its Network Operations Centre based in Taranaki.

Electricity general manager Karen Frew says it’s an exciting example of new technology improving operations.

“We’ll be able to do things like more detailed monitoring of customer demand for power, detect if an outage has occurred more quickly and improve the reliability of remotely operating the network to re-route power if we need to. All of those things add up to safer, more reliable power supply for our Coromandel customers, so I’m excited,” she says.

Map of the fibre cable. 

Delivering differently

This project will benefit Coromandel beyond helping to deliver more reliable power.

Business development general manager Eric Pellicer says the company started thinking about how the region could make the most of its new fibre asset.

“We knew we needed fibre to enable the flow of data from the smart tech we’re installing on the network. But we also wondered how else it could be used to benefit customers,” he says.

That led to an agreement with Chorus to use some of the spare capacity, where available, to bolster capacity between their existing telecommunications exchanges.

Eric says he sees it as a real win-win.

A helicopter helping with the project.

"This collaboration is good news for customers – maximising the use of the asset and spreading the cost of it.”

Chorus network techonology head Colin McCoy echoes the sentiment.

“As part of our sustainability efforts, we’re always on the lookout for where we can renew our aging fibre assets,” McCoy says.

“In this case, we identified the need to replace our fibre cable around the Coromandel and explored a range of options that led us to this opportunity with Powerco.

"Our collaboration with Eric and the team has been seamless. By sharing the asset, we’re maintaining our footprint efficiently in the region while giving Kiwis access to improved connectivity.”   

Work in progress 

Installation is progressing well, with contractors Northpower carrying out the work on Powerco’s behalf. The majority of the fibre is being installed on Powerco’s existing overhead network, supplemented by some underground cable where that wasn’t available.

The work will be completed later in 2024 weather-dependent.

To enable crews to work safely, there are planned outages associated with the work as crews move around the region in sections.

Karen thanks customers for their patience with these.

Linesman working on the power network.

“We know it’s never convenient to have an outage, especially in the colder months, but we’re endeavouring to line up other maintenance work while the power is off for the fibre installation to get as much done in one go as we can.”

Customers affected by a planned outage will be notified by their retailer, and customers can also check the page about this project on Powerco’s website here:

https://www.powerco.co.nz/what-we-do/our-projects/delivering-differently