Contact Energy extends outage at Otahuhu B to repair generator
Dec. 23 (BusinessWire) - Contact Energy Ltd., the biggest power company on the NZX 50, has extended a scheduled
maintenance outage at its Otahuhu B power station after finding cracks in welds on the heat recovery steam generator.
The decision to repair the cracks immediately means the combined-cycle gas-fired plant will be out of action until the
end of February, the company said in a statement. The Otahuhu B station has capacity of 380 MW, or about 20% of
Contact’s total.
“The decision has been taken to repair these immediately over a period of lower electricity demand and ahead of winter
2010,” the company said. As a result, Contact has rescheduled routine maintenance at its Taranaki combined-cycle
gas-fired power station.
Contact’s nine power stations generate as much as 30% of New Zealand’s electricity, according to the company’s website.
Shares of Contact rose 0.6% to $6.08 today and have declined about 18% this year.
(BusinessWire)