Reservoirs and dams in New Zealand

Reservoirs and dams in New Zealand

Many of the reservoirs and dams in New Zealand have been developed principally to produce hydroelectricity. The main river systems comprising a series of dams and powerhouses are situated on the following rivers:

The Waikato River

The Waitaki River

The Clutha River

Other schemes are standalone developments associated with specific sites.

Table of contents

1 The Waikato
2 The Waitaki
3 Standalone schemes

The Waikato

The hydro stations, starting from Lake Taupo, are (capacity in MW and nominal annual energy output in GWh):

Aratiatia (84 MW) (331 GWh)

Ohakuri (112 MW) (400 GWh)

Atiamuri (84 MW) (305 GWh)

Whakamaru (100 MW) (486 GWh)

Maraetai (360 MW) (855 GWh)

Waipapa (51 MW) (330 GWh)

Arapuni (171 MW) (805 GWh)

Karapiro (90 MW) (490 GWh)

The Waitaki

The river is developed in two areas - The upper Waitaki and the mid Waitaki. There are two dams on the upper Waitaki, the Pukaki high dam and the Ruataniwha dam. In the upper Waitaki, water is passed from storage lakes through canals to each power station.

The stations are:

Tekapo A (25 MW) (160 GWh)
Tekapo B (160 MW) (800 GWH)
Ohau A (264 MW) (1150 GWh)
Ohau B (212 MW) (970 GWh)
Ohau C (212 MW) (970 GWh)

The mid Waitaki power stations discharge water back into the Waitaki River which then forms a storage lake for the next station in the chain. The three power stations are:

Benmore (540 MW) (2,200 GWh)
Aviemore (220 MW) (900 GWh)
Waitaki (105 MW) (500 GWh)

Standalone schemes

Manapouri (700 MW) (4,400 GWh)

Manapouri does not rely on a high dam to provide water - it takes advantage of the natural 178-metre height difference between Lake Manapouri and the sea at Deep Cove in Doubtful Sound, in Fiordland.

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