Arapuni power plant
| Arapuni Power Station | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| location | ||
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| Coordinates | 38 ° 4 '17 " S , 175 ° 38' 38" O | |
| country |
 New Zealand
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| place | Waikato region | |
| Waters | Waikato River | |
| power plant | ||
| owner | Mercury NZ Limited | |
| operator | Mercury NZ Limited | |
| Start of planning | 1916 | |
| construction time | 1924 to 1929 | |
| Start of operation | 1929/1932 | |
| technology | ||
| Bottleneck performance | 196.66 megawatts | |
| Standard work capacity | 805 million kWh / year | |
| Turbines | vertical Francis turbines 4 × 22.5 MW 4 × 26.66 MW |
|
| Generators | 4 × 25 MW 4 × 26.66 MW |
|
| Others | ||
| Website | www.mercury.co.nz | |
The power plant Arapuni ( Arapuni Power Station ) is a hydropower plant on the North Island of New Zealand .
Origin of name
In the Māori language, the name “ Arapuni ” is composed of the words “ ara ” for “way” and “ puni ” for “blocked” and possibly means “a path blocked by an obstacle” .
geography
The Arapuni Power Station is the seventh power plant in a chain of eight hydropower plants on the Waikato River . The power plant is located 12 km west of the small town of Putaruru and 25 km northwest of the city of Tokoroa . The hydropower plant can be reached from the east on New Zealand State Highway 1 , via the small town of Putaruru , from which Arapuni Road branches off to the west and leads to the small town of Arapuni and the power plant.
history
As early as 1916, the first plans and studies for the dam project were carried out. An old river bed was found at the narrowest point of the Waikato River gorge in the area under consideration. In 1920, planning work was temporarily suspended due to limited public funds. Construction work finally began in 1924, but repeated heavy rains with floods hindered the initial work, so that the completion of the construction project was delayed and the first commissioning could not take place until mid-1929. The first two generators went online in June and July 1929 and a third followed a year later in June 1930. However, seepage problems subsequently led to the plant being shut down for two years. During this time, the 1.3 km long canal to the power plant was sealed. When the reservoir and the power plant were put back into operation, the fourth generator was switched on in May 1932. After further expansions, the last four generators followed in August 1937, February 1938, June 1945 and October 1946.
As of 2020, the power plant will be operated by the majority state-owned company Mercury NZ Limited , formerly Mighty River Power .
Barrier structure
The barrier structure over the gorge of the Waikato River was designed as an arch dam . The concrete work is 94 m long and rises 64 m from its 52 m wide base to the 5.8 m wide crown. The barrier structure is only used to dammed the river. The power plant, on the other hand, is located 1.2 km to the north, after the dammed water has passed through a 1.3 km long canal to the 120 m wide barrier structure of the power plant and through eight pressure tunnels measuring 3.6 m in diameter and between 122 m and 137 m long is left to the turbines.
The flood relief was carried out via a separate canal that branches off the long canal on its west side and returns excess water to the Waikato River via an access to the Waitete Stream .
power plant
The Arapuni Power Station has an installed capacity of 196.66 MW and an average annual electricity generation of around 805 GWh . Of the eight generators driven by vertical Francis turbines , four are designed for an output of 25 MW each and the other four for 26.66 MW each.
Reservoir
With the completion of the barrier structure, the water of the Waikato River was dammed up to form Lake Arapuni . The lake, which extends over an area of 9.3 km², has a usable volume of 12.2 million m³ of water for power generation with a variable storage target of 109.02 m to 112.18 m.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c 08. Arapuni - Overview . Mighty River Power , archived from the original on July 20, 2011 ; accessed on January 9, 2020 (English, original website no longer available).
- ↑ Topo maps . Land Information New Zealand , accessed January 9, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Lake Arapuni . In: NZ Topo Map . Gavin Harriss , accessed February 9, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c d 08. Arapuni - Technical . Mighty River Power , archived from the original on July 20, 2011 ; accessed on January 9, 2020 (English, original website no longer available).
- ↑ Hydro Generation . Mercury NZ Limited , accessed January 9, 2020 .
- ↑ STATEMENT OF EVIDENCE OF FRASER SCOTT WHINERAY. (PDF 2.3 MB) Waikato Regional Council, p. 19 , archived from the original on January 26, 2015 ; accessed on January 9, 2020 (English, original website no longer available).
- ^ Waikato Lake Levels . Mercury NZ Limited , accessed January 9, 2020 .
