Hydro lake storage passed below average during November 2009, and inflows were generally below average.
New Zealand’s hydro-electric storage lakes stood at 2620 GigaWatt hours (GWh) at the beginning of November 2009, 108% of average for the time of year. As the month progressed, storage reduced toward 2470 GWh on the 19th before commencing a steady but slow recovery. By month’s end, levels were up slightly on the beginning of the month, being 2664 GWh. However, the lower than normal inflows meant that this was 101% of average for the time of year.
Inflows were below average on 27 days. Above average inflows of between 101% and 122% were recorded between the 26th and 28th of November.
South-to-north transfers via the Cook Strait cable exceeded southbound transfers on 25 days. No transfers were made in either direction on 3 days during the month.
Adjusting weekday for weekday, demand exceeded November last year on 21 days. Peak demand of 111.5 GWh was recorded on November 30th, exceeding the peak load of 108.5 drawn on the 7th of November last year. The average daily load for November 2009 was 100.1 GWh, slightly higher than November last year’s average daily load of 99.4 GWh.
Demand remains below that recorded in November 2007 when the average daily demand was 105.2 GWh, and November 2006 when it was 101.7 GWh.
[Compiled from data supplied by M-co.]