Aratiatia Power Plant
| Aratiatia Power Station | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| location | ||
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| Coordinates | 38 ° 36 '57 " S , 176 ° 8' 32" E | |
| 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 | 1954 | |
| construction time | 1959-1964 | |
| Start of operation | 1964 | |
| technology | ||
| Bottleneck performance | 84 megawatts | |
| Standard work capacity | 331 million kWh / year | |
| Turbines | Francis turbines 3 × 31.3 MW | |
| Generators | 3 × 30 MW | |
| Others | ||
| Website | www.mercury.co.nz | |
The power plant Aratiatia ( Aratiatia Power Station ) is a hydropower plant on the North Island of New Zealand .
Origin of name
The name Aratiatia literally means a series of pegs that are stuck in a steep climb in a zigzag pattern to make climbing easier. It could also refer to the voyages of the ancestral explorer Tia from the Arawa canoe , who went to these rapids while exploring the Waikato River .
geography
The Aratiatia Power Station is the first in a chain of eight hydropower plants on the Waikato River . The power plant is located 10 km northeast of downtown Taupo and can be reached from the 2 km west of New Zealand State Highway 1 on Aratiatia Road .
history
In 1954, the then New Zealand government began planning a hydropower plant north of Taupo . Work on the dam began in September 1959 and in March 1964 the reservoir, which was named Lake Aratiatia , was flooded. This happened in good time before the expected electricity bottlenecks due to the increasing demand for electricity in the country. The power plant went into operation with the first generator in March 1964. In April 1964 the second generator followed and a month later the third generator was in use.
As of 2020, the power plant will be operated by the majority state-owned company Mercury NZ Limited , formerly Mighty River Power .
Barrier structure
At a bottleneck in the Waikato River , the barrier structure was built from an approximately 250 m long dam wall. To the right of the middle of the dam (from the lake view) is the weir with two gates. Below the weir is the Aratiatia - rapids , which only carry water when the weir gates are open. Since the rapids are a tourist attraction, this is done several times a day.
On the left side of the dam, a 9 m diameter, 370 m long tunnel leads to a water lock above the power plant in order to prevent water hammer. From there, three 5.5 m in diameter and 30 m long pressure tunnels lead to the power plant's turbines.
power plant
The power plant has an installed capacity of 84 MW . In 2011, the operationally reliable output was set at 78 MW. The average annual electricity generation is 331 GWh .
The three Francis turbines driven generators of the power plant are located in a machine house approx. 500 m below the dam and each have a nominal output of 30 MW. The turbines were supplied by Forma Kvaerner Turbin AB , the generators by CGE . The impeller of a turbine weighs almost 40 t.
Reservoir
The dam dams the Waikato River to Lake Aratiatia , which extends over an area of 0.5 km² and has a usable volume of around 0.8 million m³. The reservoir target of the lake was set between 335.99 m and 337.82 m.
Lake Taupo
The Lake Taupo is the main reservoir for the following eight hydropower plants of the Waikato River (Engl. Waikato Hydro Scheme ) and, with an area of 622 square kilometers the largest lake in New Zealand. At the northeast end of the lake outflow is the lake in the Waikato River .
Approx. 1000 m from the outflow of Lake Taupo is a weir system with six gates ( Lake Taupo Control Gates ), which was built in 1941. It regulates the outflow from the lake. The New Zealand State Highway 1 runs over this weir. By deepening the river bed, the maximum discharge was increased to 300 m³ / s, while the natural discharge was previously at max. 200 m³ / s was. A total of approx. 855 million m³ from the lake can be used for the hydropower plants, this corresponds to a difference of approx. 1.4 m in the water level of the lake (the total volume of Lake Taupo is an estimated 59 billion m³).
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b 02. Aratiatia - Overview . Mighty River Power , archived from the original on June 10, 2011 ; accessed on January 6, 2020 (English, original website no longer available).
- ↑ Topo maps . Land Information New Zealand , accessed January 6, 2020 .
- ↑ a b 02. Aratiatia - Technical . Mighty River Power , archived from the original on June 10, 2011 ; accessed on January 6, 2020 (English, original website no longer available).
- ↑ Hydro Generation . Mercury NZ Limited , accessed January 6, 2020 .
- ↑ Aratiatia Rapids - Scene of The Hobbit. Great Lake Taupo, archived from the original on September 16, 2014 ; accessed on April 24, 2019 (English, original website no longer available).
- ↑ a b c STATEMENT OF EVIDENCE OF FRASER SCOTT WHINERAY. (PDF 2.3 MB) Waikato Regional Council, pp. 8-10, 19-20, 24 , archived from the original on January 26, 2015 ; accessed on June 26, 2015 (English, original website no longer available).
- ^ Aratiatia Hydroelectric Power Plant New Zealand. Global Energy Observatory, accessed April 25, 2019 .
- ↑ Aratiatia G2 Runner Overhaul. Allied Industrial Engineering Ltd, archived from the original on January 30, 2019 ; accessed on June 27, 2015 (English, original website no longer available).
- ^ Waikato Lake Levels . Mercury NZ Limited , accessed January 4, 2020 .
