Pump problems to delay Te Mihi commissioning until late 2014
Wairakei geothermal field (source: flickr/ Andy King50, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
19 Feb 2014
Problems with the engineering of well pumps will delay the full commissioning of the Te Mihi geothermal power plant until late 2014, so announcements by Contact Energy in New Zealand.
As part of a half-year earnings press conference, New Zealand’s Contact Energy has provided details about the delays in the commisisoning of its Te Mihi geothermal power plant.
The plant went into production last year, but is now not expected to be at full production until late this year. Commissioning tests found that certain well pumps “were not appropriately engineered.”
The company has a fixed cost contract with its contractors so Contact Energy will not have to face extra costs and damages insurance will help offset for lost production during the phase in which the problem will be fixed
The pumps simply are not performing to specificiation and will therefore delay the commissioning until the end of 2014, so CEO Dennis Barnes.
Production impacts can be reduced through the diversion of steam to existing units at the Wairakei geothermal units.
The new Te Mihi plant ran for a month at 159 Megawatts, close to rated capacity, in December 2013 and was supposed to replace parts of the Wairakei geothermal power plant capacity.
Source: National Business Review
