Te Mihi Power Station

Te Mihi Power Station
Te Mihi Power Station
Country	New Zealand
Location	Taupō, New Zealand
Coordinates	38°37′1″S 176°2′36″E / 38.61694°S 176.04333°E
Status	Operational
Construction began	March 2011
Commission date	May 2014
Construction cost	NZ$623 million
Owner	Contact Energy
Power generation
Nameplate capacity	168 MW;
	[edit on Wikidata]

The Te Mihi Power Station is a 166 MW geothermal power station owned and operated by Contact Energy, located north of Taupō in New Zealand.

The resource consent for the power station was "called in" by the Minister for the Environment Trevor Mallard under the terms of the Resource Management Act. The appointed Board of Enquiry granted the consent with a set of stipulated conditions.^[1]

Te Mihi Power Station uses geothermal energy from the Wairakei geothermal field, which lies in the Taupō Volcanic Zone. It is part of a plan to gradually replace the Wairakei Power Station which will be phased out of production. With Te Mihi in operation, output from Wairakei is decreased by approximately 45 MW, resulting in a net increase of about 114 MW.^[2]

The project was designed and constructed by a joint venture of McConnell Dowell, SNC-Lavalin and Parsons Brinckerhoff.^[3] The plant includes two 83 MW steam turbines supplied by Toshiba. The project cost $623 million^[2] and was officially opened in August 2014.^[4]