The Manapouri Power Station machine hall, February 2005

Switchyard and water intake of Manapouri Power Station, February 2005

Manapouri Power Station is an underground hydroelectric power station owned and operated by Meridian Energy Limited, the largest hydroelectric power station in New Zealand. It lies deep in a remote area of New Zealand's South Island on the western arm of Lake Manapouri, in Fiordland ( 45°31′17″S, 167°16′40″E). Most(~610MW) of the station's power output feeds to the aluminium smelter operated by New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Limited (NZAS) at Tiwai Point near Bluff, some 160 km to the southeast. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (600 × 800 pixel, file size: 776 KB, MIME type: image/png)View of Manapouri Powerstation machine hall in February, 2005. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (600 × 800 pixel, file size: 776 KB, MIME type: image/png)View of Manapouri Powerstation machine hall in February, 2005. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... An underground power station is a type of hydroelectric power station constructed by excavating the major components (e. ... Meridian Energy Limited, a New Zealand-based company, performs electricity generation and electricity retailing. ... The South Island The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. ... Lake Manapouri in the morning. ... Fiordland is a region of New Zealand that is situated on the south-western corner of the South Island. ... Comalco (now called Rio Tinto Aluminium) is the worlds eighth largest aluminium company. ... Tiwai Point lies at the entrance to Bluff Harbour on the southern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. ... Bluff is a town and seaport in the Southland region, on the southern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. ...

The construction of the station was a massive feat of civil engineering. The majority of the station, including the machine hall and two 10-km tailrace tunnels, was excavated under a mountain.

The station is in Fiordland National Park. In the 1960s, environmental protests against construction galvanised New Zealanders from one end of the country to the other. The campaign to prevent the lake from being raised took on politicians and senior bureaucrats, and won. Milford Sound: Mitre Peak, the mountain at left, rises 1692 meters above the Sound. ...

Construction

The power station is housed in a cavern excavated from solid granite rock 200 metres below the surface of Lake Manapouri. Two tailrace tunnels take the water that passes through the power station to Deep Cove, a branch of Doubtful Sound, 10 km away. Access to the power station is via a two-kilometre vehicle access tunnel, which spirals down from the surface, or a lift that drops 193 m down from the control room above the lake. There is no road access into the site; a regular boat service ferries power station workers and tourists 35 km across the lake from Pearl Harbour, at the eastern end of the lake. Typical view of the Doubtful Sound. ... Pearl Harbour is a small harbour located in the south-east corner of Lake Manapouri. ...

Soon after the power station began generating at full capacity in 1972, engineers confirmed a design problem. Greater than anticipated friction between the water and the tailrace tunnel walls meant reduced hydrodynamic head. For 30 years, until 2002, station operators risked flooding the powerhouse if they ran the station at an output greater than 585 MW, far short of the designed peak capacity of 700 MW. Construction of a second tailrace tunnel, 10 km long and 10 metres in diameter, finally solved the problem. The increased exit flow increased the effective head, allowing the turbines to generate more power without using more water. Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Hydrodynamics is fluid dynamics applied to liquids, such as water, alcohol, oil, and blood. ... In fluid dynamics, head refers to the constant right hand side in the incompressible steady version of Bernoullis equation. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

Environmental protest

See Save Manapouri Campaign. The Save Manapouri Campaign is an environmental campaign to save Lake Manapouri from flooding due to the construction of a hydroelectric dam. ...

History

Early history

The first surveyors mapping out this corner of New Zealand noted the potential for hydro generation in the 178-metre drop from the lake to the Tasman Sea at Doubtful Sound. The idea of building a power station was first suggested in 1904, but the remoteness of the location and the scale of the engineering task made any project infeasible at the time. fuck you Map of the Tasman Sea Satellite photo of the Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, some 2000 kilometres (1250 miles) across. ... Typical view of the Doubtful Sound. ... 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1926, the New Zealand Sounds Hydro-Electric Concessions Company obtained water rights from the government to implement a scheme to use power from Manapouri to produce fertilizer and munitions. The idea was to use electricity to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere. The scheme did not proceed and the water rights lapsed. Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1955 the modern history of Manapouri starts, when a geologist with Consolidated Zinc Proprietary Ltd identified a commercial deposit of bauxite in Australia on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula, near Weipa. It turned out to be the largest deposit of bauxite in the world yet discovered. In 1956 The Commonwealth Aluminium Corporation Pty Ltd, later known as Comalco, was formed to develop the bauxite deposits. The company started investigating sources of large quantities of cheap electricity needed to reduce the alumina recovered from the bauxite into aluminium. Comalco settled on Manapouri as that source of power and Bluff as the site of the smelter. The plan was to refine the bauxite to alumina in Queensland, ship the alumina to New Zealand for smelting into metal, then ship it away to market. Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar). ... Comalco (now called Rio Tinto Aluminium) is the worlds eighth largest aluminium company. ... This article is about the peninsula located in the Australian state of Queensland; it should not be confused with either Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, or Cape York, Greenland. ... Weipa (12°36′S 141°58′E), a town on the Gulf of Carpentaria coast on Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia, is a mining town of approximately 3,000 people that exists because of the enormous bauxite deposits along the coast. ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Comalco (now called Rio Tinto Aluminium) is the worlds eighth largest aluminium company. ... The most fundamental reactions in chemistry are the redox processes. ... Aluminium oxide (or aluminum oxide) (Al2O3) is a chemical compound of aluminium and oxygen. ... Bluff is a town and seaport in the Southland region, on the southern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. ...

Construction history

• February 1963, Bechtel Pacific Corporation won the design and supervision contract, under the supervision of Theodore T. Brooks an American engineer.
• July 1963, Utah Construction and Mining Company and two local firms won contracts to construct the tailrace tunnel and Wilmot Pass road. Utah Construction also won the powerhouse contract.
• August 1963, the Wanganella, a former passenger liner, was moored in Doubtful Sound to be used as a hostel for workers building the tailrace tunnel. During the 1930s she was a top-rated trans-Tasman passenger liner, with accommodation for 304 first-class passengers. She continued to serve as a hostel until December 1969.
• February 1964, tailrace-tunnel construction began.
• December 1967, powerhouse construction was completed.
• October 1968, tunnel breakthrough.
• 14 September 1969, the first water flowed through the power station.
• September/October 1969, commissioning of the first four generators.
• August/September 1971, the remaining three generators were commissioned.
• 1972, the station was commissioned. It was then that engineers confirmed the limitations of peak capacity due to excess friction in the tailrace tunnel.
• June 1997, work began on the second tailrace tunnel.
• 1998, the Robbins tunnel boring machine starts drilling at the Deep Cove end of the tunnel.
• 2001, tunnel breakthrough.
• 2002, the second tunnel was commissioned. Refurbishment of the seven generating units begins, with the goal of raising their eventual output to 135 MVA (121.5 MW) each. As of 2004, this refurbishment was still in progress.

Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bechtel Corporation (Bechtel Group) is the largest civil engineering company in the world. ... Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Wanganella is also the name of a small town in New South Wales, Australia During the 1930s, the TSMV Wanganella was a top-rated trans-Tasman passenger liner, with accommodation for 304 First Class and 104 Second Class passengers. ... A passenger ship is a ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. ... Typical view of the Doubtful Sound. ... For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1968 Gregorian calendar. ... September 14 is the 257th day of the year (258th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... A tunnel boring machine that was used at Yucca Mountain. ... Typical view of the Doubtful Sound. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Political history

• July 1956, the New Zealand Electricity Department announced the possibility of a project using the Manapouri water, an underground power station and underground tailrace tunnel discharging the water at Deep Cove in Doubtful Sound. Five months later, Consolidated Zinc Proprietary Limited formally approached the New Zealand government about acquiring a large amount of electricity for aluminium smelting.
• 19 January 1960, the Labour government and Consolidated Zinc signed a formal agreement for Consolidated Zinc to build both an aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point and a power station in Manapouri. The agreement violated the National Parks act, which provided for formal protection of the Park, and required subsequent legislation to validate the development. Consolidated Zinc received exclusive rights to the waters of both Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau for 99 years. Consolidated Zinc planned to build dams that would raise Lake Manapouri by 30 metres, and merge the two lakes. The Save Manapouri Campaign was born, marking the beginning of the modern New Zealand environmental movement.
• 1963, Consolidated Zinc decided it could not afford to build the power station. The New Zealand government takes over. Electricity generated by the plant is sold to Consolidated Zinc at basement prices, with no provision for inflation.
• 1969, Consolidated Zinc's electric power rights were transferred to Comalco Power (NZ) Ltd, a subsidiary of the Australian-based Comalco Industries Pty Ltd.
• 1970, the Save Manapouri petition to the government attracted 264,907 signatures.
• 1972, New Zealand elected a new Labour government.
• 1973, the Prime Minister, Norman Kirk, honoured his party’s election pledge not to raise the levels of the lakes. He created an independent body, the Guardians of Lake Manapouri, Monowai, and Te Anau to oversee management of the lake levels. The six Guardians were all prominent leaders of the Save Manapouri Campaign.
• 1984, the Labour Party returned to power in the general election. The resulting period was tumultuous, with Labour's controversial ministers Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble driving rogernomics, a rapid introduction of "free market" reforms and privatisation of government assets. Many suspected the Manapouri Powerstation would be sold, and Comalco was the obvious buyer.
• 1991, the Save Manapouri Campaign was revived, with many of the same leaders and renamed Power For Our Future. The Campaign opposed selling off the power station to ensure that Comalco did not rehabilitate its plans to raise Lake Manapouri's waters. The Campaign was successful. The government announced that Manapouri would not be sold to Comalco.
• 1 April 1999, ownership of the Manapouri power station was transferred from the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand to Meridian Energy Limited.

Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Typical view of the Doubtful Sound. ... Comalco (now called Rio Tinto Aluminium) is the worlds eighth largest aluminium company. ... January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. ... Comalco (now called Rio Tinto Aluminium) is the worlds eighth largest aluminium company. ... The Save Manapouri Campaign is an environmental campaign to save Lake Manapouri from flooding due to the construction of a hydroelectric dam. ... Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... Comalco (now called Rio Tinto Aluminium) is the worlds eighth largest aluminium company. ... Comalco (now called Rio Tinto Aluminium) is the worlds eighth largest aluminium company. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... The Save Manapouri Campaign is an environmental campaign to save Lake Manapouri from flooding due to the construction of a hydroelectric dam. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. ... Norman Eric Kirk served as Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974 and led the New Zealand Labour Party from 1965 to 1972. ... The Save Manapouri Campaign is an environmental campaign to save Lake Manapouri from flooding due to the construction of a hydroelectric dam. ... The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. ... The 1984 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament. ... Sir Roger Douglas is a former New Zealand politician and senior Cabinet minister, best known for his leading role in the radical economic restructuring undertaken by the New Zealand Labour Party government in the 1980s. ... The Honourable Richard William Prebble CBE, born 7 February 1948, was for many years a member of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The term Rogernomics, a portmanteau of Roger and economics, was created by analogy with Reaganomics to describe the economic policies followed by New Zealand Finance Minister Roger Douglas from his appointment in 1984. ... A free market is an idealized market, where all economic decisions and actions by individuals regarding transfer of money, goods, and services are voluntary, and are therefore devoid of coercion and theft (some definitions of coercion are inclusive of theft). Colloquially and loosely, a free market economy is an economy... Privatization (sometimes privatisation, denationalization, or — especially in India — disinvestment) is the process of transferring property, from public ownership to private ownership. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... The Save Manapouri Campaign is an environmental campaign to save Lake Manapouri from flooding due to the construction of a hydroelectric dam. ... is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... The Electricity Corporation of New Zealand Ltd (ECNZ) is a New Zealand State-Owned Enterprise formed on April 1, 1987 as a transition entity in the process of deregulating the New Zealand Electricity Market. ... Meridian Energy Limited, a New Zealand-based company, performs electricity generation and electricity retailing. ...

Specifications and statistics

Power station

Francis turbine (courtsey Voith-Siemens). ...

Civil engineering

Links and references

• http://www.meridianenergy.co.nz/aboutus/powerstations/manapouri/default.htm The Meridian Energy website] contains information about the area and history, the Save Manapouri Campaign, the Guardians of Lakes Manapouri, Monowai and Te Anau, information about the power station and developments.

• Peat, Neville. Manapouri Saved!: New Zealand’s first great conservation success story: integrating nature conservation with hydro-electric development of Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau, Fiordland National Park Longacre Press, Dunedin (1994)

• Mark, Alan F., Integrating Nature Conservation with Hydro-Electric Development: Conflict Resolution with Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand, by Professor Alan Mark, a prominent environmentalist, Save Manapouri campaigner, and now a Guardian of the Lake.

• Manapouri - the Toughest Tunnel, a 60-minute television documentary made in 2002 by NHNZ