Otahuhu power plant to fire up Contact earnings

By Mark Reynolds

Commissioning of the new Otahuhu B power plant in South Auckland is going according to plan, Contact Energy said yesterday.

The plant last week generated 365 megawatts of power, just 25 megawatts below its design capacity of 390 megawatts. The gas-fired plant is one of the largest generators in the country and when it is fully commissioned will be capable of producing about 5 per cent of the nation's power needs.

Its location close to industrial operations in South Auckland will also help solve some security of supply problems to the greater Auckland region. It will take the strain off some power lines that are currently used to bring energy north from generation plants further to the south.

The plant was originally scheduled to be completed late last year, but problems with some of its machinery meant it had to be partially rebuilt.

Contact investor relations manager David Hunt said yesterday that everything was running according to the new commissioning schedule.

Contact is covered for damages resulting from the delays in the original start-up date. Those damages payments will help the company record a profit of about $90 million for its current financial year, compared with a forecast of $65.5 million made when the company was privatised earlier this year.