Construction of new gas turbine power station site steadily taking shape

Thursday, 1 March 2018

An access road from SH3 to the planned site is steadily taking shape.

Nova Energy's estimated $100m gas turbine-fired power station appears to be slowly taking shape near New Plymouth.

Construction of a 100MW 'peaker plant' has been in development since resource consents were granted by Taranaki Regional Council in 2013, and tenders to build and operate the plant were sought in 2015.

New greenfield site for the planned 100MW power station

But progress on the greenfield site nestled in cow paddocks between State Highway 3 and Mangorei Rd has slowed since the Todd Foundation subsidiary company predicted in 2016 that the plant could begin operating this year.

The construction site where the power station will be built is hidden from view from SH3 but can be seen from another vantage point on Mangorei Rd.

Contractors have been preparing an access road and site for the new power station

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Roading contractors were this week continuing to prepare an access road from Junction Rd/SH3, opposite the New Plymouth water treatment plant, to a large levelled site.

The plant is designed to meet electricity demand at peak periods, as well as provide a base load when wind or hydro generation was low.

Similar plants have been built in Taranaki, at Stratford by Contact Energy, and by Todd Energy at the company's McKee production station, inland from Waitara.

A Nova Energy spokeswoman said the company had no updates to make on the Mangorei Rd site.