Labour attacking plans to sell power plant

[Motu]

PS where the custodian of the land , the so called Maori party ??

They are happy - Tainui are getting the Huntly station....it's all part of the plan.

[Pascal]

I don't like the idea as it is reported. If, however, there is a plan to provide some other backup mechanism then go for it.

[BMWST?]

circles much?

Background
Following national power shortages in 2001 and 2003 due to low hydro lake levels, the New Zealand government commissioned Contact Energy to build reserve generation on the Whirinaki site. This plant was intended to be a generator of last resort, providing back up generation when needed, such as during times of low hydro lake levels. The Electricity Commission has suggested that the generating units could be relocated, and converted to run on natural gas.

Operations
The diesel powered power station was opened in 2004, and comprises three Pratt & Whitney twinpacs, each with two FT8 gas turbines. Designed to be a standby power station, it has a total capacity of 155MW. The power station is maintained and operated by Contact Energy and it is state owned[2]. The station was due to be transferred to Meridian Energy on the 1st October 2010 as part of the 2010 electricity market reforms, but in December 2010, the New Zealand Government announced it intended to sell the plant by open tender.[3]

Site History
The site was previously occupied by a 220 MW power station, which began operation in 1978.[4] This comprised four Pratt & Whitney twinpacs, each with two FT4 gas turbines (based on the JT4A). This plant was fueled with diesel, which meant electricity generation was expensive and the plant operated very rarely. In 1993, one twin-pac was moved to construct a cogeneration plant at the Te Awamutu dairy factory. The remaining three units were sold and removed in 2001.

[SPman]

A cunning plan - sell off a redundant power station that is not needed, and set up the scenario for future sell-offs of more useful and critical amenities and services in the (not too distant) future.
As Brian D said -

All going according to plan

[avgas]

circles much?

Background
Following national power shortages in 2001 and 2003 due to low hydro lake levels, the New Zealand government commissioned Contact Energy to build reserve generation on the Whirinaki site. This plant was intended to be a generator of last resort, providing back up generation when needed, such as during times of low hydro lake levels. The Electricity Commission has suggested that the generating units could be relocated, and converted to run on natural gas.

Operations
The diesel powered power station was opened in 2004, and comprises three Pratt & Whitney twinpacs, each with two FT8 gas turbines. Designed to be a standby power station, it has a total capacity of 155MW. The power station is maintained and operated by Contact Energy and it is state owned[2]. The station was due to be transferred to Meridian Energy on the 1st October 2010 as part of the 2010 electricity market reforms, but in December 2010, the New Zealand Government announced it intended to sell the plant by open tender.[3]

Site History
The site was previously occupied by a 220 MW power station, which began operation in 1978.[4] This comprised four Pratt & Whitney twinpacs, each with two FT4 gas turbines (based on the JT4A). This plant was fueled with diesel, which meant electricity generation was expensive and the plant operated very rarely. In 1993, one twin-pac was moved to construct a cogeneration plant at the Te Awamutu dairy factory. The remaining three units were sold and removed in 2001.

Something tells me that 5MW solar and 15MW of wind is more beneficial to the grid than 155MW of Co-gen that is never turned on.
Besides we have the co-gen just down the road (East Tamaki) if need be, and that thing hardly runs and cost almost nothing to build after we screwed every manufacturer on the planet.

[Brian d marge]

http://www.watercare.co.nz - has grown 4 fold in the last 12 months...... and probably looks very good for Chinese investors. I wonder what the council will sell it for....10 billion?

........

They move quickly dont they,,,,they did the same in south America , same where ever they go ,,,, at least the Argies got pissed off !!!

Stephen

[Coldrider]

A huge price hike for the cost of coal is more of a threat than dry lakes.

[rustic101]

Sell the bloody thing.

Our (Kiwis) thinking is all wrong. Put a couple of dirty big water turbines out in the Cook Straight and generate our power that way.

Governments should Govern, not own or run businesses, excluding schools, hospitals, Police and a few other Govt Departments.

[tri boy]

"Jantar to the white lobby. Paging Mr Jantar"............

[Pixie]

They should put the two remaining GTs,one each up Gerry Browneyes and Jonkeys arses,tie as many National MPs to them as possible and using Nick Smith as a vectored thrust nozzle,launch them into the stratosphere.

[mashman]

........

They move quickly dont they,,,,they did the same in south America , same where ever they go ,,,, at least the Argies got pissed off !!!

Stephen

I saw a NatGeo on this a few years ago and the one bit that stayed with me was the guy (and some neighbours), who against the law and because they couldn't afford it, dug a channel to the water pipe running past their wall and tapped it, physically and metaphorically... disgusting.

little bit of wiki: "According to The Ecologist in 2000, the World Bank declared it would not "renew" a 25 million USD loan to Bolivia unless it privatized its water services.[2] According to Jim Shultz, executive director of the Democracy Center in Cochabamba, the World Bank believed that "poor governments are often too plagued by local corruption and too ill equipped to run public water systems efficiently. ...[and that the use of private corporations] opens the door to needed investment and skilled management,"[3]"


damned is ya do etc... screw what the people need.

[pete376403]

You could of course collect the rainwater that falls on your roof - until they make that illegal - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2559834/posts

[mashman]

You could of course collect the rainwater that falls on your roof - until they make that illegal - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2559834/posts

fuckin hell that's obscene...

[Smifffy]

We are running out of electricity capacity now. Whether that could be helped by this station, or other infrastructure spending (eg clapped out cables, new transmission lines) I don't know.

What I do know is that the NZ economy is currently strangled by insufficient supply of electricity, among other things.

http://www.systemoperator.co.nz/formal-notices-2010

http://www.systemoperator.co.nz/formal-notices-2009

http://www.systemoperator.co.nz/cust...e-notices-2010

Despite all of those notices, the outlook is considered "Normal"

You can be sure that every time a notice is given, the price goes through the roof as well.

Check out the fluctuations in the spot price:

http://www.systemoperator.co.nz/whol...pricing-status

I don't believe that the system is in good enough shape to be selling off bits of it.

They claim to be able to predict the demand, and probably do just fine. The problem is they can't meet it.

Why would the price fluctuate so much if the demand is known, stable and predictable?

http://www.systemoperator.co.nz/demand-status

[Brian d marge]

Sell the bloody thing.

Our (Kiwis) thinking is all wrong. Put a couple of dirty big water turbines out in the Cook Straight and generate our power that way.

Governments should Govern, not own or run businesses, excluding schools, hospitals, Police and a few other Govt Departments.

Sometimes they should , but at least put people in charge who HAVE run a business

utilities should not be run to make a profit , electricity being one of them

State owned , paid through by my take , run efficiently with people held to account if it doesn't,

Phones on the other hand I never thought of them as a necessity

Stephen