Thousands of homes across Wellington and the South Island faced power outages due to strong, blustery winds. Crews have since reconnected most households, though Network Tasman reports a small number of unplanned outages remaining in the region.
Wellington and South Island Weather Disruptions
Wild weather swept across parts of New Zealand, bringing strong, blustery winds that knocked out electricity to thousands of properties. The severe conditions impacted households in the capital and across the South Island.
Utility crews mobilized quickly to address the damage. Power has since been restored to the vast majority of affected homes and businesses.
Current Restoration Status by Region
Repair work is largely complete in the hardest-hit areas, though minor pockets of outages persist. In the South Island, Network Tasman still has just over 200 people recording unplanned outages.
Meanwhile, crews successfully cleared faults on the West Coast to restore full service there. Similar repair efforts finished around 20 homes at Little River on Banks Peninsula, bringing those residents back online.
Vulnerability of Electrical Grids to Weather Events
Severe weather events remain a primary driver of large-scale electricity disruptions. Federal utility reporting in the United States indicates that about 83% of reported major outages between 2000 and 2021 were attributed to weather. Between 2000 and 2021, there were 1,542 weather-related power outages.
Data compiled by Climate Central analyzed major power outages (during which at least 50,000 customers lost power) in the U.S. from 2000-2021, as reported by utility companies to the federal government and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. The findings show that severe weather, winter storms, and tropical systems regularly test the limits of aging utility infrastructure.
The decade from 2011-2021 experienced 64% more major power outages than that from 2000-2010. Furthermore, the average annual number of weather-related power outages increased by roughly 78% during 2011-2021, compared to 2000-2010.
Outage Breakdown by Weather Type and Region
Utilities are required to describe the cause when reporting major power outages. Climate Central conducted additional analysis to more accurately assign weather types to reported outages where possible. Out of the 1,542 weather-related major power outages recorded from 2000-2021:
- 58% were caused by severe weather such as high winds, rain and thunderstorms
- 22% were caused by winter weather, including snow, ice, and freezing rain
- 15% were caused by tropical storms and hurricanes
- Extreme heat and wildfire accounted for the remaining ~5% of outages
Regional weather-related outages vary due to the interconnected nature of the grid, regional weather patterns, relative population density, and infrastructure age:
- The Southeast had the most weather-related major outages with 474.
- The Midwest ranked second in total weather-related outages with 363, but first in outages due to severe weather with 295.
- The Northeast was third in both weather-related (346) and severe weather-related (183) outages.
The states with the most reported weather-related power outages from 2000-2021 were Texas (180), Michigan (132), California (129), North Carolina (97), and Pennsylvania (82). All of these are ranked among the top 10 most populous states, though the populations of Texas and California are nearly three- to four-times larger than Michigan or North Carolina.
Strategies for Grid Resilience
Energy providers and regional planners increasingly look to grid hardening to combat weather-related failures. Upgrades such as tree trimming along power lines and burying overhead transmission lines help prevent storm damage and fortify the system against damage.
Additional modern defenses include microgrids, which are self-sufficient energy systems with a smaller geographic footprint, and smart grid technologies that allow operators and customers to better assess grid stability. Other solutions feature bidirectional charging—which, although not yet a standard feature for most electric vehicles, would allow vehicles to power homes during blackouts and serve as an energy storage resource for the grid—alongside incentives to further encourage customers to cut back on usage during peak times.
