Waitaki power station
| Waitaki Hydro Station | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| location | ||
|
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| Coordinates | 44 ° 41 '26 " S , 170 ° 25' 34" E | |
| country |
 New Zealand
|
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| place | Canterbury region , South Island | |
| Waters | Lake Waitaki | |
| power plant | ||
| owner | Meridian Energy | |
| operator | Meridian Energy | |
| construction time | 1928 to 1935/1954 | |
| Start of operation | 1954 | |
| technology | ||
| Bottleneck performance | 105 megawatts | |
| Standard work capacity | 496 million kWh / year | |
| Turbines | Francis turbines 7 | |
| Generators | 7 × 15 MW | |
| Others | ||
| Website | www.meridianenergy.co.nz | |
The Waitaki Power Plant ( Waitaki Hydro Station ) is a run-of-river power plant on the South Island of New Zealand . The power plant is one of eight power plants under the Waitaki Hydro Scheme , a large-scale hydropower project in the Canterbury area .
geography
The power plant is located 5 km northwest of Kurow , 70 km southwest of Timaru and 62 km northwest of Oamaru .
history
It was an employee named PS Hay , who worked in the New Zealand government's public works department, who saw the potential of the Waitaki River for hydroelectric power generation. But it was not possible to start such a large project until the 1920s, and since the power plant on Lake Coleridge could no longer meet the South Island's electricity needs, further expansion of electricity generation on the South Island became necessary.
The first work on the first dam project of the Waitaki River began in the middle of 1928 and was also intended as a kind of job creation measure, because due to the economic crisis, the unemployment rate was high and the dam project was able to create urgently needed jobs. At peak times, up to 1200 workers with picks, shovels and wheelbarrows worked on the dam and were housed in the village of Kurow , 5 km downstream . In the 1930s, the physician DG McMillan convinced workers to pay a small amount every week into a kind of fund in order to receive free medical care. The system found favor with Arnold Nordmeyer , a member of the then Labor government, and was adopted for the entire country in 1939.
In 1935 the dam was completed, Lake Waitaki was dammed and two 15 MW generators began to generate electricity, which meant that almost half of the South Island's electricity demand could be covered in those days. Between 1940 and 1949 three more generators were installed in the power plant and after the power plant building was expanded, the last two generators followed in the years 1952 to 1954 for the final expansion stage of the power plant.
As of 2020, the Waitaki power plant will be operated by the majority state-owned company Meridian Energy Limited .
Barrier structure
The barrier structure consists of a 33 m high and 522 m long concrete gravity dam . To make room for the dam, construction workers had to clear away over half a million cubic meters of earth with a pick and shovel. The dam that was built afterwards was not given a separate flood relief . At high tide, the water simply runs over the top of the dam. The power plant is located on the south side of the barrier structure.
power plant
The Waitaki power plant has an installed capacity of 105 MW . The average annual production is 496 GWh. The seven generators, which are driven by Francis turbines , provide a maximum of 15 MW each at a nominal voltage of 11 kV .
Reservoir
With the completion of the barrier structure, the reservoir called Lake Waitaki was dammed. The lake, which extends over an area of 6.2 km², has a targeted storage target between 227.0 m and 230.8 m.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Hydro Stations . Meridian Energy , accessed January 18, 2020 .
- ↑ Topo maps . Land Information New Zealand , accessed January 18, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c Discover the Waitaki Hydro Scheme . (PDF; 1.9 MB) Meridian Energy , November 2008, archived from the original on February 17, 2011 ; accessed on January 18, 2020 (English, original website no longer available).
- ↑ Gavin McLean : Waitaki Dam . In: New Zealand History . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , 2013, accessed January 18, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c Waitaki hydro station . Meridian Energy , accessed January 18, 2020 .
- ↑ Waitaki Power Station . Engineering New Zealand , accessed January 18, 2020 .
- ↑ Lake levels - Lake Waitaki lake levels . Meridian Energy , accessed January 18, 2020 .