TrustPower nears goal of new plant at Huntly

By FIONA ROTHERHAM

TrustPower is moving a step closer to building a 240mW gas-fired power station in the Waikato for use during peak demand.

The Tauranga-based generator-retailer is about to start a second round of talks with the community and other stakeholders before seeking resource consents by the end of the year.

It has an option to purchase a site on farmland behind the Genesis-owned Huntly power station. Second-hand equipment from overseas has been lined up.

TrustPower has 5 per cent of the generation market, with 36 hydro stations nationwide and one wind farm in the Tararua Ranges.

It generates 40 per cent of the electricity requirements for its retail customers and is therefore vulnerable to large spikes in the spot market wholesale price.

The Waikato station would be fired up only at times of peak prices because it would be more expensive to run than the company's renewable energy.

There was a clear demarcation during June in wholesale electricity prices for the upper North Island compared with the rest of the country.

The average price for Otahuhu was 4.95c a kWh following constraints in parts of the national grid, particularly above Lake Taupo.

By contrast, the average monthly price for Haywards, the North Island reference point, was 3.81c a kWh and it was 3.49c at Benmore, the South Island reference point.