Huntly Power Station

Story

The Huntly Power Station is the largest thermal power station in New Zealand and is located in the town of Huntly in the Waikato. It is operated by Genesis Energy Limited, a publicly listed company (currently 51% owned by the NZ Government), and is capable of supplying over 31% of the country's current electricity needs. The station has four operational generating units – two 250 MW coal-and-gas-fired steam turbine units, a 50 MW gas peaking plant, and a 403 MW combined cycle gas turbine plant.OperationGenerationEach of the four original generating units, which are capable of burning either coal or gas, installed in stages between 1973 and 1985, is capable of generating 250 MW of electricity, giving a historical generating capacity of 1000 MW. Its chimneys are 150 metres high and each chimney has two flues that are 7 metres in diameter. The plant uses a reheat steam cycle, with C A Parsons turbines and Combustion Engineering boilers.In 2004 the power station was upgraded with the addition of a 50 MW gas turbine plant, and in 2007 the combined cycle gas turbine plant was commissioned. This plant increased the total generating capacity of Huntly by 403 MW . The new turbine represented an investment of NZ$520 million and it increased the total installed capacity to 1453 MW.In 2007, Huntly operated at a load factor of 85% and was providing a large amount of the baseload energy needs of the northern North Island. In 2007, the plant was mainly gas-fired, but a dry winter in 2008 prompted more coal thermal generation.