Meridian Annual Report - Meridian Energy

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Meridian owns and operates the largest
portfolio of renewable electricity assets
in New Zealand, providing around onethird
of the country’s generation.
Each time we experience extraordinarily low hydro inflows, Meridian
and the rest of the electricity industry refine the tools for dealing
with these events. This year Meridian was very encouraged by the
joint industry approach of the Winter Task Force, as well as the
public savings campaign which helped to limit demand and ensure
a market was maintained in both the North Island and South Island.
Meridian worked to ensure the best possible response to the challenges
of the low hydro inflows, developing a range of tactics to
protect storage, promote energy conservation to customers and
maximise southward flow on the inter-island HVDC link.
Of particular note is the contribution Meridian’s two wind farms made,
generating around 478GWh of electricity during the 2007/08 year.
A heritage of excellence in
renewable generation
Meridian owns and operates the largest portfolio of renewable
electricity assets in New Zealand, providing around one third of the
country’s generation. Since making a commitment in 2004 to remain
a 100 percent renewable generator, Meridian has pursued excellence
in its generation operations by making significant investment to
upgrade systems and generation facilities.
A highlight was the multi-million dollar half-life upgrade of Manapouri,
New Zealand’s largest hydro station. This was completed during
the 2007/08 year and represents the first major work on the station
since it was commissioned in the late 1960s. The Manapouri half-life
upgrade was a major capital investment and was completed on
time and within budget, while at the same time implementing a
number of innovative engineering and management techniques.
Upgrading and improving the efficiency of existing plant delivers
significant sustainability benefits, including better environmental
monitoring and protection systems, as well as better reliability and
plant utilisation.
We began refurbishment of the 540MW Benmore station – the largest
in the Waitaki chain – during the 2007/08 year. It will deliver substantial
improvements in efficiency and reliability of the turbines as
well as a significant increase in the amount of electricity generated
each year from the same volume of water.
Meridian achieved outstanding plant availability and reliability
during the 2007/08 year. This helped Meridian maintain the reserve
capacity needed to ensure the reliability of the national grid.