Tauhara Power Station facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Tauhara Power Station |
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| Country | New Zealand |
| Location | Taupo, New Zealand |
| Coordinates | 38°40′5″S 176°9′4″E / 38.66806°S 176.15111°E |
| Status | consented |
| Owner(s) | Contact Energy |
| Website Tauhara webpage |
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The Tauhara Power Station is a geothermal power station north of Taupo in New Zealand. Stage 2 of the project is being developed by Contact Energy and Tauhara Moana Trust.
Tauhara Stage 1
Stage 1 of the Tauhara project is operational as the Te Huka Power Station. This is a 24MW binary plant supplied with geothermal steam from the Tauhara field.
Tauhara Stage 2
The application for resource consents for the 250MW power station was submitted in February 2010. The Minister for the Environment determined that this project was one of national significance, and referred it to an independent Board of Inquiry. The resource consents were granted in December 2010. It was the first infrastructure project to be processed under the new Board of Inquiry process administered by the Environmental Protection Authority. In August 2019 Contact Energy began drilling four wells to further characterize the geothermal reservoir on the field and inform a final decision on whether to build a new power plant.
The project is expected to cost around $580 million.
In February 2021 Contact Energy announced that it planned to issue $400 million of new shares to raise capital to build the plant.
