Huntly Power Station

Huntly Power Station is a thermal power station that can use coal, gas or both simultaneously as fuel. Coal is delivered to the station primarily via an overland conveyor belt. Gas is piped to the station from the Taranaki region.

With a present output of 1,448MW, Huntly Power Station is New Zealand’s largest thermal power station and can provide up to 20 percent of the country’s electricity. Huntly is strategically located only 70km from Auckland, the largest load centre, and plays a critical roll in supplying New Zealand with power.

Huntly Power Station consists of six separate generating plants; Units 1 - 4, the original four separate generating units of 250MW each, which are capable of burning coal, natural gas or a combination of the two; Unit 5, the 400MW combined cycle gas turbine (previously known as e3p), and Unit 6, a 48MW open cycle gas turbine.

It is recognised that the Huntly Power Station impacts on the environment by way of:

• The discharge of emissions to air;
• The discharge of heated water (used to cool the generating units) to the Waikato River;
• The discharge of treated process waters to the Waikato River;
• Dust emissions from the storage of coal on land;
• The disposal of ash; and
• The aesthetic impact of the power station on Huntly township.

Genesis Energy holds a number of resource consents for the activities at the Huntly Power Station that assist in the management and mitigation of the environmental effects. The environmental performance at the site with respect to these resource consents is regularly monitored and reported to Environment Waikato and the Waikato District Council. .

Genesis Energy is also involved in various environmental initiatives that recognise the impact that the Huntly Power Station has on the environment and local community.

Further information on how Genesis Energy manages its impacts can be seen here.