Environmental Costs and Ramifications of Power Plant - Essay Example

Contents Introduction 2 Overview of Resource Consents Held by Huntly Power Plant 3 3 Aquatic Resource Consent 4 Environmental Effects of Aquatic Resource Consent 4 Conclusion 4 References 5 Glossary 6 Abstract The paper is written in order to discuss environmental costs and ramifications of operationalization of Huntly Power Plant. The featured power plant is working to provide electricity to majority of people living in the country of New Zealand and therefore, government’s hands are tied when it comes to regulation of the Power Plant. Additionally, all of the source consents owned by the plant are designed to delay the inevitable of global environmental destruction. The Huntly Power Plant: An Analysis of Environmental and Societal Costs Introduction The power generation business is one of the most important work-lines in the world. These facilities are primarily responsible for generating and supplying electric power to industrial and residential areas. But, these power plants are running on oil and therefore, their operational costs are increasing significantly on an annual basis. The environmental and societal costs associated with the operations of these power plants are also known to creep up with a close of each and every fiscal year (Hamilton & Manne 1978). However, the power plants do not work towards restoration of green environment and nor do they participate towards benefitting the society at large. They only focus on generation of power and maximization monetary returns. These facilities follow an avoidance strategy towards managerial ethics and therefore, hold on to the point that their purpose is to do the business and ethics and societal benefit is none of their concern (Logue, 1996). Additionally, governments feel reluctant towards imposition of increased taxation on private power plants because in this way, they risk escalating already increasing power prices. The major stakeholder in the business of power generation is the local government and due to this reason, the governmental offices have to make tradeoff between low energy prices and growing environmental concerns (Holtz, 2008). The economic mindset of the government forces it to choose lower energy prices over environmental concerns every time. The problem of global warming and increasing international temperatures has received a great level of attention lately and supporters of green living are of the view that alternative energy projects can save the planet. But, the industrialists think otherwise because switching the whole world economy from oil to alternative energy sources is a big deal and it requires major investments (Whitmarsh & O’Neill, 2010). The alternative energy sources such as wind and solar energy are predicted to produce less amount of energy than the traditional methods. The world economic system is not ready to use alternative energy sources because nobody trusts them right now. But, in a few years major oil producers’ output levels are going to decrease notably and this futuristic possibility may lead to more price related difficulties for electricity consumers. The oil producing companies are consuming more oil than their production levels and therefore, the level of oil available for domestic consumption is reducing. The major purpose of writing this paper is to analyze and evaluate the economic, social and environmental costs associated with the operations of Huntly Power Plant. The plant is a major electric energy producer and therefore, it is responsible for supplying energy needs of substantial number of people. But, the societal and environmental costs are in direct relation with the size of industrial activity. The methods and ways to minimize environmental degradation caused by the plant will be discussed at the later stages of the report. The major argument of the study is that the power generation plants are mainly responsible for causing air, water and even noise pollution in the society and they are not environmentally concerned as well. Overview of Huntly Power Plant The Huntly Power Plants are three in number and were constructed in 1985 in the locality of Huntly of New Zealand. The plant is considered the world largest thermal power facility in the world. The sub-units of the plant have the capacities to generate 1000 MW, 50 MW and 385 MW of electric energy respectively. The first plant operates on coal and gas while other two are powered with gas turbine generators. All of the plants are capable of running on gas and coal and they were erected in between years of 1973 and 1985. The flues of the facility are 150 meters in height. The plant uses a reheat cycle with the help of consumption engineering boilers. The plant was improved with the installment of additional gas turbine plant that is designed to produce 48 MW of energy. The gas turbines capable of producing 135 MW and 250 MW were also installed and that caused the total capacity of the plant to increase by 385 MW. The novel turbines cost NZ$ 520 Million and increased the overall capacity of the plant to 1485 MW (old + new installments). The plant was operating 85% of the total capacity and was providing energy to the area of North Island. But, at that time, the facility was majorly powered by gas and a subsequent winter without rain caused the authorities to make it a gas based operation in 2008. More than half of the coal required to run the plant is purchased from Indonesia and the remaining need is fulfilled by local mining operations in the country. The gas requirements of the newly installed turbines are being fulfilled from the Maui gas field that is located in Taranaki. Huntly is also connected with Kapuni via 363 Km and 14 inch diameter pipeline. The area is supplied gas with the help of 307 Km and 34 inch pipeline from Taranaki. Overview of Resource Consents Held by Huntly Power Plant The plant holds various types of resource consents as it is responsible for emancipating pollutants in air, water, dust and ashes. The environmental costs of the plants are therefore, significant. But, apparently the hands of the government are tied because the power house is directly linked to the main national power grid at Auckland and because of this reason; it is fulfilling energy needs of the substantial amount of people. The government despite of knowing about all environmental disturbances is forced to tolerate as it does not have any alternative source of energy production. The key stakeholders include government, general public, business and economic support groups, customers and environmentally concerned pressure groups. The general public is suffering from early consequences of the water and air pollution caused by the plant and government has to make an economic decision and therefore, cannot do anything about the problem. The business support groups are in favor of the plant because it is fulfilling their energy needs and the environmentally concerned groups are protesting but, seemingly in vain. Aquatic Resource Consent The facility is known to use the water from Waikato River as a coolant. But, the ratio of allowable water drainage is given by Resource Management Act and the maximum temperature of water when it is returned to the river is 25 Celsius. The conditions of RMA caused the plant to shut down as it cannot operate in extraordinarily hot summer days because the river water may get hotter than the maximum legal limit. Consultation Process at Huntly Power Plant The operation of water purification and discharge is outsourced to the local contractors as the company’s workforce is not well trained and therefore, the management of the plant has decided to hire a contractor. But, the efficiency and effectiveness of the purification plant and discharge system has been consistently falling and thusly, leading to increased contamination in the by-flowing River. Environmental Effects of Aquatic Resource Consent The water that is used as a coolant in the operations of the facility is returned to the water table. But, as a consequence of industrial deployment, it becomes warm and therefore, it can have harmful influences on water life. The RMA governs the use of water in the plant and it has set limits for contamination and heat levels of the water when returned to the river. The facility is also sporting a water purification plant in order to get rid of any impurities in the recycled water prior to sending it back in the river. The limits set by RMA on plant’s water consumption are both logical and necessary because the water when boiled shrinks in terms of volume and therefore, if no limit is imposed on industrial-hydro consumption then, it may cause the River to dry out in few years. Conclusion The Huntly Power Plant is one of the major electricity producing facility in the country of New Zealand. But, the environmental and societal costs associated with the operationality of the plant are significant and rising. Yet, the government cannot do anything about the ramifications of producing electric power. The featured power facility is designed to use water as a coolant and when it returns the hose to the River, the average temperature of the ocean rises and major species of the fish are migrating in order to save their lives. The plant is also known to discharge polluted water, ashes, smoke and chemicals. All of the abovementioned factors are notably destroying the natural habitat and government has no choice but, to behave like a silent bystander. The environmentally concerned groups are raising their voices in vain as nobody is interested in saving the planet. The prevailing environmental measures are designed and implemented to delay the inevitable. The humans have to understand that they by their own hands, are destroying the future of their next generation and the time is near when humans have to take shelter in caves so that they can remain safe from harmful environmental conditions. References Hamilton, L., & Manne, A. 1978. Health and Economic Costs of Alternative Energy Sources. IAEA Bulletin Vol 20 no.4 , 44-58. Holtz, C. 2008. Global Health Care: Issues and Policies. Jones & Bartlett Learning. Logue, J. 1996. Disasters, the environment, and public health: improving our response. American Journal of Public Health Vol 86 no. 9, 1207-1210. Whitmarsh, L., & O’Neill, S. 2010. Green identity, green living? The role of pro-environmental self-identity in determining consistency across diverse pro-environmental behaviours. Journal of Environmental Psychology Vol 30 no. 1 , 305-314. Glossary Aquatic of water Celsius unit to measure temperature Emancipating to set free MW Megawatt, a unit to measure production of electricity Resource Consent an agreement governing use of a natural resource Read More