Central Dunedin and Roslyn to benefit from substation upgrades

This project will benefit almost 3,000 customers in the Central Dunedin and Roslyn areas, by future-proofing the network and strengthening the electricity supply through replacing the end-of-life equipment and building a new switchroom.

Enabling works will begin this month and the project will take a staged approach until mid-2025.

“Some traffic management will be required in the area at times and affected customers will be informed of any significant disruptions to traffic by a letter from the traffic management provider,” said Richard Starkey, Aurora Energy’s General Manager of Service Delivery. “Customers supplied by the Smith Street substation will be supplied by neighboring zone-substations for the duration of the project.”

This work follows on from a year-long project that was recently completed, where Aurora Energy installed 2.5km of ducting.

“This was to prepare for the hauling of a new 33 kV underground electricity cable across central Dunedin, which is due to take place in early 2025. The cable will run from the Smith Street zone substation towards North Dunedin, to the Willowbank zone substation on Great King Street. This will form part of a ring network that will improve the security of electricity supply by providing back up options for 5,900 customers supplied by the two substations,” Mr Starkey said.

Aurora Energy have been in touch with the adjacent landowners ahead of the work commencing at the Smith Street zone substation and will continue to keep customers and stakeholders updated as the work progresses. Aurora Energy thanks the community for their goodwill and patience as they undertake this important upgrade work.