Power company makes promise over emissions at Marsden B

The Mighty River Power company says it will spend up to $60 million to minimise sulphur emissions to make Marsden B power station in Northland the cleanest coal-burning plant in Australasia.

Mighty River Power chief executive Doug Heffernan yesterday outlined the company's plans for refiring Marsden B, near Ruakaka, using coal.

The plan, subject to resource consent applications to Northland Regional Council and Whangarei District Council, has sparked an orchestrated campaign of opposition, mainly from Whangarei Heads residents and Greenpeace.

Greenpeace activists have occupied the roof of the station and called for Mighty River to withdraw its application to refire the station using coal. Much opposition has centred on possible pollution from the station, but Mr Heffernan said if the plan won approval Marsden B would be the cleanest-burning coal station in Australasia.

He said the company would spend $45-$60 million on a flue gas desulphurisation unit, which would fit between the station's boiler and exhaust stack. The entire project was expected to cost about $370 million.

The unit would remove sulphur dioxide from the station's flue gas to minimise emissions into the atmosphere. Mr Heffernan said Marsden B would be the first power station in Australasia with such a desulphurisation system.

He said the station would easily meet any environmental standards imposed on it, despite the fact those standards were far tougher now than when Marsden B was built in the late 1970s. The company would have to build a new 120m-tall chimney stack for the station, which would include filters to remove dust particles.

Ash from burning roughly 35,000 tonnes of coal every two weeks would be collected at the bottom of the plant's boiler by a filter system that Mr Heffernan said would collect 99.5 per cent of the ash.

The ash would then be placed in a landfill on Mighty River land near the station. Mr Heffernan said the landfill would be safer and more secure than any domestic landfill.

He said coal was the best practical option for Marsden B. The company had also explored the possibilities of oil and wood waste.

With the country's economy growing, demand for electricity would outstrip supply by 2010 and the company needed to plan now for that. Northland was also "booming" and needed its own security of supply, which Mr Heffernan said Marsden B would give.

"The best option (for long-term security of power supply) would be if New Zealand discovered another Maui gas field and if we did that we would be delighted, particularly if the gas can be brought ashore economically," he said.

"But that's a big if and the problem is we can't wait for that to happen because we need to start the planning (for security of supply) now. We have to start the consent process for Marsden now in case nothing appears (in new gas resources) by 2010."

If the station did not go ahead, he said, there was a real risk of "brownouts" (controlled power outages) beyond then. He said wind was not a realistic option to provide the sort of power needed to meet demand.

Long-term Mighty River wanted to use renewable energy sources, but something needed to be done now to ensure the country had enough electricity over the next five to 10 years.

Whangarei District Council has stalled over whether to ask Environment Minister Marion Hobbs to hear the application to fire up Marsden B with coal.

The council was yesterday to consider asking Ms Hobbs to "call in" Mighty River Power's application. That would see the application heard by a national board of inquiry rather than by a local authority.

But the council deferred the decision to an extraordinary council meeting next week, to allow more time to consider the implications of such a move.

The mothballed power station, which has never been used, has been occupied by Greenpeace protesters since Wednesday.

Mighty River has applied to Northland Regional Council and the district council for resource consent to start the station. Submissions close on February 24. More than 600 people, most opposed, have entered submissions.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)