21 Nov 2008

New geothermal power station to open

10:56 am on 21 November 2008

Mighty River Power is to open a new geothermal power station at Kawerau on Saturday.

The $300 million Kawerau plant will produce 100 megawatts of power, enough to meet the requirements of 100,000 households.

Chief executive Doug Heffernan says the new station is the biggest geothermal development in New Zealand for 20 years.

He says large scale development of geothermal power provides the lowest cost development option to meet New Zealand's energy demands.