28 April 2016
New Zealanders to benefit from decision to keep Huntly in operation
Transpower today welcomed the announcement by Genesis Energy, supported by a number of other generator companies, to
keep the Huntly power station in operation. Huntly remaining in operation alleviates some challenging situations in 2019
when it could have been difficult to meet the electricity needs of the country. This follows the retirement of a number
of thermal generators this year, and the proposal for two further generating units at Huntly to be closed in 2018.
Transpower Chief Executive Alison Andrew said that as owner and operator of the National Grid and operator of the
wholesale electricity market, the company had run numerous scenarios about what the closure of these generation plants
meant for meeting the energy needs of the country.
“Over the past six months, we have released a number of reports and assessments outlining the challenges that the
country faced from 2019, should Huntly close and not be replaced by any new generation sources,” she said.
“There were times in 2019 that we forecast a shortfall of energy, which could have been difficult to manage. In extreme
cases (for example a dry year when the hydro lakes are very low), we could have experienced a situation where consumers
would have been asked to conserve their power usage.”
“It’s pleasing that the industry has recognised the issue that the country was facing, and worked together on a solution
to help provide stability for New Zealand’s power supply,” she said.
ends