Genesis unveils new site

Murray Jackson

Genesis Energy's new 240-megawatt power station may be generating electricity by the summer of 2008-09, the company says.

It yesterday disclosed the station would be built on 18ha of land halfway between Helensville and Kaukapakapa, just north of Auckland.

The company said the site - not far from the national grid and gas pipeline and close to water from the Kaukapakapa River - was particularly suited to a power station.

Chief executive Murray Jackson said the natural-gas-fired station could be generating power in three years to meet the demand from the rapidly developing areas north of Auckland, which had made new generation urgent.

With consent already granted to more intrusive and polluting stations, such as Mighty River's coal-burning Marsden B, Genesis did not believe its $500 million station would face many Resource Management Act hurdles.

But Rodney District Council's district plan needs to change to allow for power generation on rural land.

Genesis had no difficulty getting consent for its new station at Huntly, which is planned to come on stream from winter 2007. The northern plant will have a lower profile and be built in stages.

At first, it will be built with two 120MW turbines. When the nearby gas pipeline is upgraded, another 120MW can be installed, taking the whole station to 360MW. By comparison, the Huntly Power Station, New Zealand's largest thermal station, is rated at 1000MW. The Clyde Dam is rated at 432MW.

Apart from the 10MW geothermal station at Ngawha, there is no major electricity generation north of South Auckland's Otahuhu B station.

The new station's modular format means that unlike other new plants such as Huntly, it will not have to shut down for maintenance.

Despite some fears about natural gas supply, Genesis said there was enough gas for the new station, which was likely to use natural gas from the new Pohokura field and the yet-to-be developed Kupe fields.

Since the station is near the NGC natural gas pipeline, which connects Marsden Point with the rest of the country, it has potential to be powered with imported liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Genesis and Contact have been working on plans to develop New Zealand's ability to import LNG, so new stations will not be left stranded if local gas finds do not produce enough fuel. A decision on where to build a new LNG terminal - Marsden Point or Taranaki - is expected within two months.