Labour attacking plans to sell power plant

[Brian d marge]

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.

Tis why I bang on and on and...... about the IMF world bank , National labor Winston peters ... I couldn't care , Now the bond rate and those evil baskets "advising " NZ .,... I do care

Gandi , and just say no to anything that smacks of the IMF , " user pays , speeding tickets , water , student loans ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

One minister salary can pay 2 teachers ( roughly )

Stephen

[Swoop]

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.

You would need some really hot air to keep the turbine running. The green party would be perfect there!

[SMOKEU]

I'm surprised that they're talking of selling it. I thought they would have given it away to some Maori tribe for free.

[avgas]

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

The same reason that oil, coal, food....... is known stable and predictable.

The ONLY objective of a business is to generate profit. All other objectives are for the benefit of the individuals.

[Brian d marge]

have a look a Burma ,,, lots of stuff going cheap there!

Stephen

[mashman]

Tis why I bang on and on and...... about the IMF world bank , National labor Winston peters ... I couldn't care , Now the bond rate and those evil baskets "advising " NZ .,... I do care

Gandi , and just say no to anything that smacks of the IMF , " user pays , speeding tickets , water , student loans ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

One minister salary can pay 2 teachers ( roughly )

Stephen

mate, calm down, the NZ sharemarket peaked at a 28-month high today, all's well, they've fixed NZ...

[Mully]

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.

I'd have a couple near Auckland, couple near Wellington, couple near Christchurch....

IIRC, they were talking about doing that up North of Auckland way (Rodney-ish). The local iwi told 'em to fuck off cos it's hapu or tapu or some such gobbledygook. Nothing that a fat cheque couldn't fix, I suspect.

And I think the plan sank without a trace, so to speak.

[Jantar]

Are there natural gas reserves in Whirinaki?
If not its as useful as tits on a bull having a co-gen plant there. Sounds like they upgraded the Diesel plant with something more efficient.......so will only cost less to run - but will still cost far too much.

At 155MW could we not find some other generation plant that could satisfy this. Rather than one we have to truck diesel to?

(sorry about being a bit ambiguous here - but I don't know the area)

The Whirinaki station is quite new and only installed after the 2001 electricity crisis. It has run quite often to cover shortfalls in the market, but is expensive. Being a diesel plant it costs almost $400 per MHW to run, but is fast start and fast ramp. Thus it is a good backup to wind power.

The cost of running it makes it unattractive to any of the large generation companies, as it doesn't earn enough to cover the capital cost, let alone SRMC. This is the reason that the Electricity commission was the owner, although Contact has the operations and maintenence contract. It would not be a profitable addition to any portfolio, but is great as a security backup.

[Jantar]

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.

There is no 155 MW of Co-gen. I'm not sure where that idea came from, but the whirinaki power station is solely for electrical energy. It is not a co-gen plant.

[Jantar]

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.

What two remaining GTs? The Whirinaki power station comprises of 3 GTsets each capable of around 52 MW. This is a new station. The old Whirinaki station was completely sold off in 2001, just before the electricity crisis of that year.

[Jantar]

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. ....

When someone designs and builds such a turbine that works and is economical enough to use, then maybe. Until then this idea is still just a pipe dream.

[Jantar]

I'd have a couple near Auckland, couple near Wellington, couple near Christchurch....

IIRC, they were talking about doing that up North of Auckland way (Rodney-ish). The local iwi told 'em to fuck off cos it's hapu or tapu or some such gobbledygook. Nothing that a fat cheque couldn't fix, I suspect.

And I think the plan sank without a trace, so to speak.

Well the first one was supposed to working last year. So far no-one has been able to produce anything that will work in Cook Straight.

This from 2008.

http://renewableenergydev.com/red/ti...y-cook-strait/

[Brian d marge]

renewable energy

just look at wellington,the beehive

all that gas , hot air and the unbelivable piles of Shyte ,,,, could run most off the south Island , off that

bout time they sent some back down our way

Stephen

[piston broke]

i'm still hopeing to see the day when the Kaipara harbour is tapped.
there is a lot of water moving there,22-23hrs/day

[MSTRS:Me]

What I fail to see is...
If it was 'necessary' to build the Whirinaki plant as backup, because of shortfalls in generation, in 2001 - since then demand has increased, but has generation done so too, to the point where that extra capacity is not needed?