The link is designed to be able to transmit electricity in both northwards and southwards directions, but the design of the transmission system in the lower North Island restricts the amount of electricity that can be transmitted southwards. The North Island's electricity system has most of its generation in the centre of the island, while the two major load centres, Auckland and Wellington, are located north and south of the main generation resources. The HVDC Inter-Island link connects to the North Island AC transmission system at Haywards in Wellington. The Wellington region is a major load centre with a regional peak demand of approximately 780 MW. Local generation capacity is only 165 MW, and the majority of that is wind power, which is intermittent and cannot be relied on to cover load when required, meaning the region must import electricity to meet demand.