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Last year the only people spending significant amounts of money were Government departments but in 2010 there are already signs of economic recovery, according to cable manufacturer Olex. By Neil Ritchie.
However, New Plymouth based Cooper says probable and possible power projects – more thermal or geothermal plant, upgrades to existing hydro stations, future wind or tidal farms, all of which will use power and instrumentation cables – point to a buoyancy returning to the industry. Taranaki has been pretty much insulated from the effects of the global financial crises, he says, and subsequent recession because of the region’s strong energy, engineering, dairying and associated industries. And one of the biggest projects currently in Taranaki, the $250 million gas peaker plant at Stratford being built for Contact Energy, involves Olex. “We are doing really well down there, through United Group, the main contractor. There have been some challenging designs by UGL out of Sydney – for rodent resistant cables, with a special brass taping, but we are coping well.” UGL is responsible for project management, most engineering, procurement and installation associated with the construction of the twin fast-start gas turbines at the heart of the plant. Olex, part of the world’s largest cable manufacturer Nexans, is currently supplying instrumentation cables and low voltage control cables for the Stratford project that is due to come onstream by the start of the 2010 winter, using gas from various fields stored in the nearby Ahuroa underground gas storage reservoir to produce electricity at times of peak power demand. Cooper says Olex is hopeful another integrated energy player, Genesis Energy, will soon make the final investment decision on its planned Rodney gas-fired power station north of Auckland. “As we understand it, Genesis is proceeding with all resource consent applications . . . and we hope this gets to go ahead soon so construction can start within the next few years.” Another likely Taranaki project for some Olex involvement is Todd Energy’s $65 million liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) extraction plant project, where earthworks recently started at the company’s McKee oil and gas field facilities in north Taranaki. Earthworks, associated storage and load-out facilities are expected to be completed by next May, though the main plant construction will not start until the 2010-11 summer. The project should be completed by July 2011, processing up to 27,000 tonnes per annum of LPG from the McKee and Mangahewa gas fields, as well as the company’s 26 percent share of gas from the near-shore LPG-rich Pohokura field further north. Olex is involved in the preliminary stages of some tidal or wave power projects around the country, including what could turn out to be the world’s first direct current (DC) cable for a commercial tidal power project on the Kaipara Harbour, Northland. “Things are improving now – the signs are there of a major improvement in various energy and non energy projects and that looks good.”
Energy NZ Vol.4 No.2 March-April 2010 |
Olex industry business development manager Kelvin Cooper (pictured) says the company was busy during 2009 on state initiated projects such as the upgrade of Wellington’s commuter train network and the expansion of Auckland’s Britomart railway system in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.