Sharechat Logo

Mighty River Power to build $466m geothermal plant

Wednesday 8th June 2011

Text too small?

Mighty River Power has confirmed plans to build a $466 million geothermal electricity generation plant north of Taupo.

Work was due to start at the Ngatamariki geothermal steam field site next month, with the plant expected to be operating at full capacity by mid-2013, the state-owned company said today.

Mighty River Power general manager development Mark Trigg said the plant, 17km northeast of Taupo, would have an initial output of 82 megawatts (MW).

The development would lift the company's geothermal energy production from over 30% to more than 40% of generation output, measured on ownership interests. It would lift total geothermal capacity under Mighty River Power's operation above 460MW.

The company recently secured $250 million additional debt facilities which would be used to finance the project from the company's balance sheet, Trigg said.

The $466 million project cost included all expenditure to date and capitalised interest during construction, as well as a significant contingency allowance to cater for steamfield development either during construction or in the five years after project commissioning.

Mighty River Power has invested more than $1 billion in geothermal generation in the past five years.

Chief executive Doug Heffernan said the Ngatamariki project, along with the company's international geothermal developments, would allow Mighty River Power to continue building on the core competency it had developed in geothermal.

The company has committed US$250 million to international geothermal investment early last year, and has interests in southern California, Chile and Germany.

 

NZPA



  General Finance Advertising    

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:
Your name:
Your email:
Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Related News:

SML - Synlait Milk Limited - Trading Halt of Securities
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
CEN - Tauhara commissioning progress update
FPH initiates voluntary limited recall
March 28th Morning Report
KFL Celebrates 20 Years of Excellence in Investment Mgmt.
SVR - Savor FY24 Earnings Guidance & Change in Banking Partner
NZK - NZ King Salmon Investments Limited FY24 Results
March 27th Morning Report