Late last week the GT22, one of the fast-start gas turbine peaking units at our Stratford Peakers’ site in Taranaki was damaged when a blade broke resulting in a major failure in the compressor.

Since then, we have been working around the clock to understand the impact of what has happened, and early indications are that it appears to be a significant issue.

GE, the US-based equipment supplier, has now completed the initial internal inspection of the gas turbine and confirms it has suffered significant internal damage.

The Peakers play an important role, not just in Contact’s portfolio, but also for the wider market in energy security.

At this stage we could be looking at February / March 2025 before the GT22 is returned to service resulting in a prolonged outage. This is when our spare gas turbine engine is returned to Stratford following its repair in the United States.

We are working with our original equipment manufacturer to determine if there are other options to reduce the outage time, however at this stage we believe this likelihood is slim.

If we can improve on this timeframe, Contact will update the market as soon as we have more information.

Contact expects to have Taranaki Combined Cycle (TCC), the other Peaker Unit, GT21, and the Whirinaki units available throughout 2024.