Tiwai Point shutting up shop

[thephoenix]

Tough news for the 1000 employed.

Bad news for my Meridian shares.

But at least with all the excess power generation, we'll all get cheaper power... yeah, right.

[Rumpelteazer]

Plenty of power for EV's

[harm_less]

Plenty of power for EV's

And the end of Huntly burning coal for generation.

The downside is that we're now unlikely to see incentives for installing PV any time soon.

[nzoomed]

Would be nice if we get cheaper power as a result, no excuse to deliberately lower power generation though, we will need all we can get for EV's

[harm_less]

Would be nice if we get cheaper power as a result, no excuse to deliberately lower power generation though, we will need all we can get for EV's

The problem looks to be getting Manapouri's generation to the North Island where most demand is located. Bigger transmission lines?

[nzoomed]

Would be nice if we get cheaper power as a result, no excuse to deliberately lower power generation though, we will need all we can get for EV's

The problem looks to be getting Manapouri's generation to the North Island where most demand is located. Bigger transmission lines?

IDK, it could still supply most of the south island anyway. Im not sure how much capacity the HVDC link up to the north island has, but I know it has been upgraded with a new cable across the strait, and the old cable probably could still be used if they wanted.

[harm_less]

The problem looks to be getting Manapouri's generation to the North Island where most demand is located. Bigger transmission lines?

IDK, it could still supply most of the south island anyway. Im not sure how much capacity the HVDC link up to the north island has, but I know it has been upgraded with a new cable across the strait, and the old cable probably could still be used if they wanted.

This would seem to be the inside info from Transpower. Long story short, completion by Winter 2023:
https://www.transpower.co.nz/news/transpower-seeks-input-clutha-upper-waitaki-lines-project

[nzoomed]

IDK, it could still supply most of the south island anyway. Im not sure how much capacity the HVDC link up to the north island has, but I know it has been upgraded with a new cable across the strait, and the old cable probably could still be used if they wanted.

This would seem to be the inside info from Transpower. Long story short, completion by Winter 2023:
https://www.transpower.co.nz/news/transpower-seeks-input-clutha-upper-waitaki-lines-project

Looks like at least they were planning for it.
Im not sure if the power station really even feeds much of the grid, I think they could link it up if they needed to, but pretty much all the transmission lines run from lake Manapouri straight to Tiwai point.

[harm_less]

This would seem to be the inside info from Transpower. Long story short, completion by Winter 2023:
https://www.transpower.co.nz/news/transpower-seeks-input-clutha-upper-waitaki-lines-project

Looks like at least they were planning for it.
Im not sure if the power station really even feeds much of the grid, I think they could link it up if they needed to, but pretty much all the transmission lines run from lake Manapouri straight to Tiwai point.

From Wikipedia: "Manapōuri is connected to the rest of the National Grid via two double-circuit 220 kV transmission lines. One line connects Manapōuri to Tiwai Point via North Makarewa substation, north of Invercargill, while the other line connects Manapōuri to Invercargill substation, with one circuit also connecting to North Makarewa substation. Another double-circuit 220 kV line connects Invercargill to Tiwai Point."

[Golfy]

Nothing to see here, just more kiwis losing their jobs under the Labour Party govt .

[thephoenix]

Maybe Labour should have given them a $30 million tax-free subsidy, like Key and his cronies did in 2013. That might have helped. Of course after he did that, the lobbyists were soon back at the door of Bill English demanding even more money.

Maybe, the smelter should have used some of their $200 million pre-tax profit from 2018 to make it "financially viable."

Or maybe, a cold little town trying to compete with a global powerhouse like China was an ultimately doomed proposition.

[nzoomed]

Maybe Labour should have given them a $30 million tax-free subsidy, like Key and his cronies did in 2013. That might have helped. Of course after he did that, the lobbyists were soon back at the door of Bill English demanding even more money.

Maybe, the smelter should have used some of their $200 million pre-tax profit from 2018 to make it "financially viable."

Or maybe, a cold little town trying to compete with a global powerhouse like China was an ultimately doomed proposition.

I think the govt have done the right thing, there is not much you can do to keep a large multi-national stay here if they want to leave.
It was on shaky ground to begin with before Covid19 and there is no reason to keep giving them handouts and cheap power just to keep it open at the expense of the taxpayer.

There becomes a point when it outweighs the cost of subsidising them, that money is better off putting the employees into new jobs instead of giving the smelter power for next to nothing.

[harm_less]

Nothing to see here, just more kiwis losing their jobs under the Labour Party govt .

The looming end of Tiwai Point smelter was obvious well before the current government came into power, hence the previous National led government trying to delay/prevent it by throwing money at it.

[nzoomed]

Nothing to see here, just more kiwis losing their jobs under the Labour Party govt .

The looming end of Tiwai Point smelter was obvious well before the current government came into power, hence the previous National led government trying to delay/prevent it by throwing money at it.

I agree, its been on deaths door for ages now.

[Golfy]

Nonetheless still more jobs down the tubes under Labour. Who is surprised?

[harm_less]

Nonetheless still more jobs down the tubes under Labour. Who is surprised?

Take a look at international news lately. Unemployment rates in NZ are on par if not lower than most countries due to a bit of a virus that's doing the rounds currently, and of course the pessimistic economic outlook will reduce commodity demand so manufacturing will suffer as a result.

We do have the benefit of a population that is virtually free of COVID so will likely weather the storm better than most due to not having thousands of dead people, and that is as a result of our government's containment strategy that is the envy of much of the world. Biting the hand that feeds you??

[jim157]

Nonetheless still more jobs down the tubes under Labour. Who is surprised?

We do have the benefit of a population that is virtually free of COVID so will likely weather the storm better than most due to not having thousands of dead people, and that is as a result of our government's containment strategy that is the envy of much of the world. Biting the hand that feeds you??

we were never going to have thousands of dead people,our governments strategy hasnt worked.......biting the hand that feeds you?? its the other way round actually the government is biting the hand that feeds them