Manapōuri Power Station on the western arm of Lake Manapōuri in New Zealand. Photo: 123rf
- The energy industry is welcoming recent heavy rain and strong winds that have helped to boost hydro lake levels
- Low hydro lake storage after months of dry weather and falling gas reserves are being blamed for soaring wholesale electricity prices
- Last week, Transpower announced generators could take more water from some lakes to help stave off an electricity shortage
Recent heavy rain and strong winds are easing the pressure on the power supply and providing a much needed boost to hydro lake levels, Meridian says.
In the last three months, Meridian's two catchments in Fiordland and the Waitaki had received the least amount of inflows into the lakes that the company has ever seen.
But the weekend's rain has meant storage at Lake Manapōuri was now above average for the first time since mid-June and storage at Lake Pūkaki started improving.
Meridian Wholesale general manager Chris Ewers said it was a welcome boost.
"The weekend saw some moderate rainfall to help lift lake levels and it's good to see more rain in the forecast across the week," Ewers said.
"It's a battle of inches at the moment, and things are definitely heading in the right direction."
He also welcomed strong winds that had helped to ease the pressure for hydro generation on its Waitaki River power stations.
Meridian's six wind farms produced up to nine gigawatt hours over the last week - that was more than the daily generation totals from the six power stations along the Waitaki Hydro Scheme.
"Over the last week Harapaki Wind Farm has been regularly pushing out more than 130MW (megawatts), and our other wind farms throughout New Zealand have also been generating near the top of their ranges," Ewers said.
This comes as the coalition government outlined a raft of measures that aimed to ease New Zealand's energy security and affordability, including a review of the performance of the electricity market.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon also announced that the government would pass legislation by the end of the year to reverse the oil and gas exploration ban, sparking backlash. Previously, the oil and gas exploration reversal legislation was only due to be introduced this year.