History
The first industrial hydro-electric power plant was established at Bullendale in Otago in 1885, to provide power for a 20 stamp battery at the Phoenix mine. The plant used water from the nearby Skippers Creek, a tributary of the Shotover River.
Reefton was the first town with a reticulated public electricity supply from a significant hydroelectric plant after the commissioning of the Reefton Power Station in 1888.
The first hydro-electric power station constructed by the government was the Okere Falls hydro-electric station near Rotorua. The plant began operating in May 1901. Electricity was transmitted at 3300 volts over a 13-mile (21 km) route to Rotorua, and was used to drive sewage pumps, and some public buildings including five thermal baths.
During the next twenty years private companies and local authorities established a number of stations, including Waipori in Otago and Horahora on the Waikato River. The first large scheme developed by the government was Coleridge in Canterbury, opened in 1914. Other significant early stations include Mangahao (1924), Arapuni (1929) and Tuai (1929), connected to a single North Island grid in 1934, and Waitaki (1935) in the South Island.
The Waikaremoana cascade was completed in the 1940's with Piripāua and Kaitawa stations. A further seven stations were developed as a cascade on the Waikato River from 1953 and 1970. In the 1950's development of the Clutha River with Roxburgh Dam and the upper Waitaki in the MacKenzie Basin with "Tekapo A" was begun.
With commissioning of the HVDC_Inter-Island link in 1965, the Waitaki scheme was futher expanded with Benmore Dam (1965), Aviemore Dam (1968), and later Tekapo B, and Ohau A, B and C.
In the North Island, the Tongariro Power Scheme was completed between 1964 and 1983.
The plan in 1959 to raise the level of Lake Manapouri for hydro-electric development was met with resistance, and the Save Manapouri Campaign became a milestone in environmental awareness. Later hydro schemes, such as the last large hydro to be commissioned, Clyde Dam in 1992, were also controversial.
Read more about this topic: Hydroelectric Power In New Zealand
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