Greerton Switching Station

The Greerton 33kV switching station plays a critical role in keeping the lights on for our customers in the Northern Tauranga region. It supplies power to substations in Omokoroa, Aongatete, Katikati, Kauri Point, Bethlehem and Otumoetai.

For this reason, any major asset failure at the station would mean major disruption to our customers.

Originally installed in 1974, the switchgear at Greerton was outdated – if it failed, replacement or repair would have been difficult and time-consuming, leading to significant outages in the area.

In addition to this, our assets in the outdoor yard were exposed to birds, possums and tree branches, any of which could have caused a fault on the 33kV circuit, resulting in a full site outage.

The station was also constructed on steep terrain, putting our equipment at risk of damage from heavy rainfall or storms. 

We invested $3.8m to replace the outdoor switching station with a new indoor 33kV switchboard. The project included:

• construction of a new switch room building
• new, environmentally safe switchgear
• protection against natural disasters (the new building was designed to modern seismic standards and offers protection against slips). 

As a result of this upgrade, our electricity network in Northern Tauranga is more resilient to unplanned outages, and now provides a reliable supply to our business and residential communities.