Pioneer Generation Limited (Pioneer Generation) is constructing a new hydro-electricity station on the Teviot River at Kowhai, New Zealand. The Kowhai hydro-electricity station will provide electricity for residents of Alexandra and Roxburgh, New Zealand. The Kowhai station will be operational by May 2009 and will generate a maximum of 1.9 megawatt (MW) of electricity. The station will be the Pioneer Generation’s sixth power station on the Teviot River.
The station has received planning consents from the Otago Regional Council and Central Otago District Council and was dealt with as a non-notified application.
The station is located 3.5 kilometer (km) east of Roxburgh and will use water from the Marslin dam It will take the water, via a 1.3 km pipeline, down a penstock to the generating station on the banks of the Teviot River.
Peter Dowling, chief executive of Pioneer Generation, has refused to disclose the cost of the project. But he quoted that the station will make a key contribution to the amount of electrical energy produced in the areas Roxburgh and Alexandra. It’s needed to keep up with the growth in the region.
The Kowhai station has been named after trees in the Roxburgh and Alexandra area.
Dowling said that the company is concentrating at dual power – hydro-electricity combined with wind-powered generation.
Dowling further added Wind power is quicker to develop than a hydro power station.
The company is almost near to add three wind turbines to its Horseshoe Bend power station. They will be installed and started by September 2009.