Transpower is asking for anyone with ideas that could delay the need for new power lines into Auckland to come forward.

As owner and operator of the national electricity grid, Transpower is planning up to $1.5 billion of new investment. But before it can be approved, it needs to assure the Electricity Commission there is not a better way of doing the job. So it has publicly asked for possible "non-transmission" alternatives for meeting the rapidly increasing demand in Auckland and Northland. This could include new power stations or ways of reducing peak demand. Instead of big power stations and long transmission lines, there is an increasing trend towards smaller generators, built closer to where the electricity is actually needed.

Transpower chief executive Ralph Craven said the company had been "of the view for some time that significant investment in the national grid into Auckland is needed by 2010".

The above extract from the NZ HERALD indicates the need for radical future plans to alleviate the very real problem we are faced with in New Zealand. Address this problem, by providing an answer to Transpower, to complete this assignment.