New Zealand’s hydro-electric storage lake levels passed below average mid-November.
Saturday 28th November 2009
Hydro lake levels have been consistently above average during 2009.
However, on two occasions levels have dropped toward average and then recovered. Storage declined to 102% of average for the time of year on the 4th of April, before a slow recovery set in for the rest of the month. A steady decline during June and July saw lake levels again fall to 102% of average on July 20th before they again recovered.
Another steady decline began early in September when storage sat at 3253 GigaWatt hours (GWh), 145% of average. Lake levels steadily lowered until November 15th when they reached 100% of average. The following day, they dropped to 2515 GWh, 99% of average for the time of year. Levels dropped slowly over the next few days reaching 2470 GWh on Thursday the 19th of November before they again began rising.
The latest figures available, drawn from M-Co’s Daily Storage graph, show that lake levels recovered to 2614 GWh, 100% of average, yesterday.
[Compiled from data supplied by M-co.]