73 DECEMBER 2021 WorldWide Drilling Resource® RENEW - SUBSCRIBE NOW! New Zealand Tauhara Geothermal Power Plant Compiled by the Editorial Staff of WorldWide Drilling Resource® Last year, New Zealand produced around 7.6 thousand gigawatt hours of electricity from geothermal power. Continuing their journey with renewable energy, a new $418 million geothermal power station is planned for completion and commercial operations by mid-2023. Contact Energy confirmed earlier this year it will proceed with the development of a new geothermal power station on the Tauhara field, near Taupō. Japanese contractor Sumitomo Corporation will lead the build, in partnership with Fumi Electric and New Zealand company Naylor Love. MB Century has been retained to provide drilling services for the production and injection wells. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern turned the first sod at the site earlier this year and commented, “We are paving the way to a cleaner, smarter future.” When completed, the power station will generate power around the clock, all year-round, as well as having the environmental impact equivalent to removing 200,000 cars from the road. Contact Energy Chief Executive Mike Fuge said the power station had been a decade in planning and was an excellent example of “kiwi-led tech”. In addition to reducing carbon emissions, it would also create enough power for 175,000 homes and create approximately 500 jobs on-site at construction peak. Tauhara has a 152 MW capacity and is expected to generate over 1300 gigawatt hours per year. The project team selected a 152 MW, triple flash, condensing steam turbine proposal from Fuji Electric. This turbine will be the world’s largest geothermal single-shaft generating unit. After exiting the turbine, steam will be quenched in a direct (spray) contact condenser with noncondensable gases (NCGs) purged by a hybrid, two-stage combination steam-ejector and liquid ring vacuum pump. Steam will be delivered to the power island from the steamfield. The steamfield design will include acid injection to manage silica scaling in the separated geothermal water reinjection system. From the power island gate, steam will travel through a wash water spray system and demister (scrubber) before entering the turbine. Power generated by Tauhara will flow into Transpower’s 220 kilovolt transmission system by a new connection in the Wairakei-Napier line. Contact emphasized their operational experience of running the world’s second longest electricity-producing geothermal field (Wairakei) since 1958. They believe understanding the subsurface environment and managing the precious geothermal resource in a sustainable manner are key to the success of any geothermal development. Tauhara will not be reliant on the wind blowing or the sun shining to generate power, and geothermal will play a crucial role in New Zealand’s transition away from fossil fuels. As Contact Chair Rob McDonald summarized, “The Tauhara geothermal project is New Zealand’s best low-carbon renewable electricity opportunity.” Planned setup of the Tauhara Geothermal Power Plant. Illustration courtesy of Contact Energy. GEO
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