5:00AM Monday July 16, 2007
By Wayne Thompson
Greenpeace ranks Genesis Energy the worst contributor to climate change.
In its updated Clean Energy Guide, Greenpeace said the company earned the ranking because it owns the Huntly coal-fired power station, the largest single source of carbon dioxide emissions.
Greenpeace climate campaigner Susannah Bailey said yesterday Genesis Energy plans involved fossil fuels, for example, the 240-megawatt Rodney gas-fired station for which it will seek consent this year.
Contact had taken second ranking because it owned gas power stations which contributed to climate change.
Last year's guide placed Mighty River Power and its retail brand Mercury Energy as having policies and practices that were the least mindful of climate change.
"Mighty River and Mercury Energy have improved their ranking because they dropped their plans to recommission the Marsden B Power Station in Northland on coal," said Ms Bailey.
"Part of the reason they did so was because of consumer pressure from the 2005 Clean Energy Guide."
This year's guide also takes into account each company's energy efficiency programme and whether they encourage households to generate their own renewable electricity.
Ms Bailey said Meridian Energy remained the best supplier of clean electricity, because all its electricity was generated from renewable sources and it had made a commitment to use only renewable sources.
She said it had been encouraging to notice an overall shift in the attitudes of the electricity industry.
"New Zealanders' concern about climate change has reached an all- time high," she said. "People want to see the Government and industry taking action but they also want to take action themselves."
Genesis Energy spokesman Richard Gordon said the company was trying to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by moving into renewable energy projects - wind farms and a small hydro station at Tongariro.
It opened the EP3 gas-turbine station at Huntly last month, using technology that lowered emissions.
"We don't disagree with Greenpeace on the need to reduce emissions, we just disagree on how fast we can get Huntly coal-fired generation out of the market," said Mr Gordon.
Huntly was the country's biggest power station and its output could be gradually displaced in the next 13 to 15 years, with efficient gas generation and renewable energy sources.
Contact Energy spokesman Jonathan Hill said the company was disappointed with its ranking in view of its "industry leadership position" on climate change.
It had a $2 billion investment programme in renewable energy generation. It had also put on hold the Otahuhu C gas-fired plant in order to focus on renewable generation.
