Faulty welds delay start-up of $520m power plant

The E3P generator being unloaded at Auckland last year. Picture / Michael Bradley.

Genesis may delay the electricity generation start-up at its 385-megawatt plant at Huntly by four months because of a manufacturing fault.

The $520 million gas-fired plant, being built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, was to start production in August and run at full capacity starting mid-December.

However, Genesis spokesman Richard Gordon said faulty welds in the thermal casings around the plant's steam boiler would take 16 weeks to repair and could postpone commissioning until April.

"We're not happy and Mitsubishi aren't happy," Gordon said.

"But we do expect to be running by mid-April if not sooner and we will be running before next winter when the demand really comes on."

The new power station, known as Huntly E3P, will be the first gas-fired power station built in New Zealand since 2000.

A lack of new gas discoveries has stalled energy projects and contributed to a 50 per cent increase in contract power prices in three years.

Gordon said the fault in the panels around the boiler was caused by poor manufacturing by a subcontractor and might have been compounded by problems during shipping of the equipment. Two shifts of workers will repair the panels.

E3P is being built alongside the 1000-megawatt coal-fired generator Genesis already operates at Huntly. Gordon said Genesis would meet power demand by running the larger Huntly plant harder than planned.

- BLOOMBERG