The defunct Marsden B power
station of Mighty River Power in
New Zealand is expected to be
dismantled and shipped to India by
December this year. The 250-mw gasfired
power plant that did not generate
even a megawatt of electricity was
brought by Bangalore-based United
Telecoms Ltd for around $20 million in
2009. The new Indian owner will
rebuild the power plant at a yet
undecided location and has the option
of running it on coal or gas.
Auckland-based contractor Southern
Pacific Industrial has been entrusted
with the job of dismantling the plant
and removing it from site. The process is
expected to take six months, with a
peak manpower requirement of 100
people. Mighty River Power only
recently got the consent from the
Whangarei District Council for the
dismantling project.
History: Marsden B was built in the
1970s adjacent to New Zealand's first
major oil-fired power station, Marsden
A, to provide reserve generation to
offset the risk of generation shortfall
from hydropower stations in dry years.
However, Marsden B was never used.
Rising crude oil prices made the plant
unviable. It was mothballed in 1978.
The twin 120m tall chimneys for both
Marsden A and B stations were felled in
1997 by the then owner Electricorp
New Zealand (ECNZ). Marsden A was
leased to the National Institute of Water
& Atmospheric Research (Niwa) for
fisheries research. The institute will
continue to function in the midst of
Marsden B's razing.
Mighty River Power, which was
allocated Marsden B during the breakup
of the Government-owned ECNZ,
announced plans in 2005 to refire the
station using coal, but the scheme
sparked a public protest and the
company withdrew its application for
resource consent in 2007.
The new buyers, United Telecoms,
will leave the site down at concrete
level, with Mighty River retaining
ownership of the 49.13 ha of prime
coastal land at Marsden Pt.