Horahora Power Station facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Horahora Power Station |
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Horahora Power Station before being submerged
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| Country | New Zealand |
| Opening date | 1913 |
The Horahora Power Station was a very important early power plant in New Zealand. It used the power of water (called hydroelectricity) from the Waikato River. This station was the first large-scale power plant in the country. It was finished in 1913.
It was first built to provide power for a gold mine. But later, the power station grew much bigger. It ended up supplying electricity to a large part of the North Island. Horahora Power Station was used until 1947. It was then covered by Lake Karapiro, a new lake formed for the even larger Karapiro Power Station.
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History of Horahora Power Station
Building the Power Station
The Horahora power station was built by a company that mined gold in Waihi. They needed a lot of power for their mining work. Waihi was about 80 kilometers (50 miles) away.
Building the station started in 1910. It took three years to finish. There was a big miners' strike in Waihi during this time. But the construction workers at Horahora kept building. The power station opened in October 1913. It was the biggest power plant in New Zealand. It could make 6.3 megawatts (MW) of power. This power was used for the mine and its crushing mills. However, the mining company never used all of its power.
Expanding Power Supply
The New Zealand government bought the power station in 1919. After that, it started supplying electricity to nearby towns. These included Cambridge, Hamilton, and local farms.
In 1926, the power station was made even better. Its power output increased to 10.3 MW. This allowed electricity to reach more places. It began supplying power to the Bay of Plenty area and even Auckland.
The 1928 Fire Incident
On September 1, 1928, a fire started at the power station. It began in the workshop and oil storage area. The fire quickly spread to the building where the transformers were.
Because of the fire, the power supply from Horahora stopped. This caused a blackout across the entire upper North Island. Power was brought back to most areas by using backup power plants. This happened by 11:45 PM that night. However, it took until the next morning for places like Rotorua to get power back. Horahora started making some power again on September 3. It was fully working again by September 30.
Horahora Power Station Submerged
In April 1947, the Horahora Power Station was covered by water. This happened when Lake Karapiro was formed. The lake was created behind the new Karapiro Power Station dam.
Horahora kept making electricity until the very last day. This was April 4, 1947. It stayed running because there were power shortages. The turbines and generators were left inside the station. People watched as the water rose. Two generators kept spinning and splashing the water. They even kept going when the water almost covered them!
The first generator at the new Karapiro station started working on April 10, 1947. This was just six days after Horahora was flooded. There were some small problems at first. But the Karapiro station began making full power by April 21.
