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Contact Energy has been granted Ohaaki resource consent

Contact Energy has been granted Ohaaki resource consent Ohaaki Geothermal plant of Contact Energy, NZ (source: SmokeySteve, commons.wikimedia.org)
Alexander Richter 5 Nov 2013

Contact Energy receives resource consent from local authorities that will help the company to keep its Ohaaki geothermal power plant running in the Northeast of Taupo on the North Island of New Zealand.

New Zealand’s Contact Energy Limited owns and operates the Ohaaki Geothermal Power Plant north east of Taupo on Maori land leased from Ngati Tahu. Earlier this year, Contact applied for a new resource consent to continue operation.

Reported on in the Think GEOENERGY Magazine, the Ohaaki geothermal power plant has a currently running capacity of 45 MW, but was running at 114 MW when it started operation in 1989. It is estimated that the field will not be able to accommodate operations of more than 50 MW.

Contact Energy announced today that “by a decision of Commissioners appointed by Waikato Regional Council and the Waikato River Authority to hear the applications, resource consents have now been granted, as sought, for a term of 35 years and for a take of 40,000 tonnes per day of geothermal fluid. The consents granted are subject to conditions that do not differ materially from those sought.”

It is assumed that the resource consent helps the company to do additional drilling to remain the current installed capacity running for the future.

Source: Contact Energy (pdf)