Marsden A was a 250 MW oil-fired power station near the Marsden Point Oil Refinery at Marsden Point, Ruakaka, Northland, New Zealand. It was built between 1964 and 1966 and commissioned in 1967.[1] It acted as an emergency reserve power station, serving the load centre of Auckland to the south. It was cooled through a long seawater pipe out into Bream Bay, which is now used to supply an aquaculture industry nearby.
Following the commissioning of the dual coal- and gas-fired Huntly power station in 1982, Marsden A became less used, and it was mothballed in the 1990s due to rising oil prices. One of the generators was subsequently run as a synchronous condenser to provide reactive power support to Transpower's national grid in Northland, but were decommissioned in 2007 when they were superseded by solid-state power support devices within Transpower's network.
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/New_oil_fired_Power_station_under_construction_at_Marsden_Point_%2840594708485%29.jpg/220px-New_oil_fired_Power_station_under_construction_at_Marsden_Point_%2840594708485%29.jpg)
The facility was previously owned and operated by Mighty River Power.
See also
References
- ^ "Marsden A Power Station (N.Z.)". National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 12 February 2022.