The Rotokawa Power Station is a
geothermal power station owned and operated by
Mercury Energy
Mercury NZ Limited is a New Zealand electricity generation and multi-product utility retailer of electricity, gas, broadband and mobile telephone services. All the company's electricity generation is renewable. Mercury has a pre-paid electrici ...
. It is located approximately north east of
Taupō
Taupō (), sometimes written Taupo, is a town located in the central North Island of New Zealand. It is situated on the edge of Lake Taupō, which is the largest freshwater lake in New Zealand. Taupō was constituted as a borough in 1953. It h ...
in
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. The station uses a
binary cycle manufactured by
Ormat Industries.
In May 2008, work began on the nearby
Nga Awa Purua Power Station
Nga Awa Purua, also known as Rotokawa II, is a geothermal power station located near Taupō in New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () ...
.
Environmental aspects
Due to the high temperatures associated with the geothermal vent here, this locale is an occurrence of
extremophile
An extremophile () is an organism that is able to live (or in some cases thrive) in extreme environments, i.e., environments with conditions approaching or stretching the limits of what known life can adapt to, such as extreme temperature, press ...
micro-organisms that can thrive on the high vent water temperature.
[C.Michael Hogan. 2010]
''Extremophile''
eds. E.Monosson and C.Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment, Washington DC
See also
*
Geothermal power in New Zealand
*
List of power stations in New Zealand
References
Geothermal power stations in New Zealand
Taupō District
Buildings and structures in the Taupō District
{{NewZealand-powerstation-stub