New Zealand’s hydro storage improved during December 2007, recovering from the dramatic lows of November. However, at year’s end, storage still remained below average for the time of year.
At the beginning of December 2007, New Zealand’s hydro-electric storage lakes stood at 2087 GigaWatt hours (GWh), 79% of average for the time of year. A burst of healthy inflows for part of the month improved storage which ended the year at 2585 GWh, 88% of average, despite increased demand. Storage was consistently below average for the whole month, with levels declining until the 10th after which they steadily improved.
Inflows were below average on 19 days but, on the days when when they were above average, healthy flows were recorded. Until December 11th, inflows were below average, but dramatically increased around the middle of the month before trailing off again from the 23rd.
South-to-north transfers via the Cook Strait cable exceeded southward transfers on 27 days and, on 3 days, no transfers took place in either direction.
Daily demand exceeded December last year’s recordings on 26 days and peaked at 111.8 GWh on December 11th. Peak demand during the previous December (2006) occurred on the 18th, when 106.4 GWh were drawn. The average daily load for December 2007 was 98.7 GWh.
[Compiled from data supplied by M-co.]