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Genesis gas-fired e3p power plant begins generating electricity
13 April 2007 - Genesis Energy's new gas-fired e3p generation plant at its Huntly power station south of Auckland has begun producing electricity as part of its commissioning.
Genesis Energy's chief executive, Murray Jackson, says the 385MW combined cycle gas turbine plant has been synchronised to the national grid and is now producing electricity on a daily basis.
He says work on the plant's commissioning is moving ahead at a good pace.
The plant is undergoing a 90 day commissioning programme to be followed by a 30-day reliability test, after which the plant becomes a base-load supplier of electricity.
Mr Jackson says that once fully commissioned, the e3p plant will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by one million tonnes per annum that would otherwise have been emitted by the less efficient largely coal-burning 1000MW power station right alongside. That reduction amounts to around 10% of CO2 emissions from all power generation in New Zealand.
“We believe natural gas will enable a transition to lower
CO2 emissions and should be central to all greenhouse gas policies. It produces about half the greenhouse emissions of coal-fired power generation and is the preferred source of new base load generation in most countries across the world.
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“The major advantage of gas is its capacity to make a substantial difference to greenhouse emissions in the short term while other medium and longer term solutions are being explored,” says Mr Jackson.
“Genesis Energy, one of New Zealand's largest electricity generators and the largest energy retailer, is committed to minimising the carbon footprint of its electricity generation operations,” he says.
The name e3p stands for energy efficiency enhancement project.
Mr Jackson says the 385MW combined cycle gas turbine, built by Mitsubishi Corporation, is the most efficient plant in the world for generating electricity from clean burning natural gas.
The plant will convert gas into electricity at a conversion efficiency of 57%, compared with 37% for the existing power station at Huntly. E3p uses a natural gas-fired turbine coupled with a heat recovery boiler and steam turbine. The plant will produce enough electricity for approximately 400,000 households.
In an earlier release Mr Jackson says Genesis is aware of the impact of coal-fired generation on the climate.
The company's key strategy to reduce its dependence on coal has been to construct the e3p plant at Huntly and plan for another similar combined cycle gas turbine plant north of Auckland in the Rodney district.
Other strategies are around developing a number of strategic wind farm sites which complement hydro capability; extracting more efficiency from the existing Huntly plant; reducing carbon emissions from non-generation activity and working with customers to reduce theirs.
Genesis reports that the cold winter of 2006 had a significant impact on the financial performance of Genesis Energy in the six months to 31 December 2006, with increased net profit after tax to $60m from $47.5m in the same period in 2005.
The profit increase was largely driven by high volumes of electricity dispatched to the wholesale market. The company's coal/gas-fired 1040 MW station at Huntly ended the calendar year with a record output of 6092 GWH. The company's renewable generation added 2054GWH.
Revenue for the six months was down from $969m to $945m as an abundance of water into hydro lakes in the second quarter depressed wholesale electricity prices.
Source: Genesis Energy.
