KEY POINTS:
Plans for a gas-fired power station northwest of Auckland have been reignited after a design change to escape the clutches of a ban on new thermal energy plants.
State-owned generator Genesis confirmed yesterday it was still seeking planning permits and resource consents for a 480MW plant between Helensville and Kaukapakapa.
Mooted 2 1/2 years ago as a way of securing electricity supply for the north of Auckland, the plant seemed to be blocked last year by Government policy turning against new plants burning fossil fuels.
The aim was to encourage the proportion of the country's electricity generated from renewable resources to rise from 70 per cent to 90 per cent by 2050.
The New Zealand Energy Strategy and the Climate Change Bill flagged a decade-long moratorium on new thermal base-load power stations.
However, yesterday Genesis Energy spokesman Richard Gordon confirmed the company's wish to take the proposal a big step further.
Previously, the company had wanted a base-load station which, like its new EP3 gas turbine plant at Huntly, ran continuously.
But it had now redesigned operating and engineering plans to make it a cycling plant - one that ran only when extra capacity was required.
Last August, the Rodney District Council made a rare request to the Environment Minister to "call in" the application as a matter of national interest.
It was concerned at estimates for carbon dioxide emissions from the station of 0.76 million to 1.74 million tonnes - between 1 per cent and 2.3 per cent of the country's total annual greenhouse gas emissions, including transport and agriculture.
The council is now prepared to hear Genesis out.
It has been relieved by the Court of Appeal deciding that limiting of greenhouse gases is to be dealt with at a national level and not part of a council's consideration of rules or resource consents under the Resource Management Act.
Council planning director Warren Maclennan said the council would have independent commissioners rather than councillors to hear the special zone application.
The Auckland Regional Council would deal with station consents for site earthworks and water discharge.
Both councils wanted a meeting with the Ministers of Energy, Environment and Economic Development at which councillors could raise community concerns about the security of electricity supply north of Auckland, greenhouse gas emissions and thermal generation.
Mr Maclennan said other local authorities north of Auckland also wanted to be included.
Kaukapakapa Residents and Ratepayers Association chairman Neville Miller said residents would meet next week to discuss the development and "decide what action, if any, they may take".
Suzi Phillips of Kaipara Forest and Bird Society said: "The process is under way. Just because it's entering into a process doesn't mean it's going to be approved."
Mr Gordon said the station would take about 18 months to build once consents were obtained. He said Genesis Energy's reasons for building the station should be seen in the light of the present situation where the North Island was on the edge of an electricity supply crisis.
Risk factors included dry times facing the South Island hydro dams and constraints on the Cook Strait cable until it was renewed.
Mr Gordon said Genesis was unable to operate Huntly Power Station at more than 30 per cent of capacity, because the Waikato River water temperature was too hot for its discharges.
* CHANGING TACTICS
Rodney District Council yesterday agreed to process Genesis' request for a private plan change to the district plan to create a spot zone for a 240MW station that could grow to 480MW.
This will allow bundles of information on the station's possible impact on rural communities to go out for public submissions and hearing in July-August.
