Ormat has completed the Ngatamariki plant in September 2013 under the $142m supply and EPC contracts signed with Mighty River Power in June 2011.
Built with an investment of $446m in just two years, Ngatamariki, with 4% over capacity, is claimed to be the world’s largest single-site binary geothermal power plant, which will generate 700GWh of annual electricity production, enough to power about 80,000 households.
The power plant is comprised of four air-cooled Ormat Energy Converters, which are directly fed by a high temperature (380°F/193°C) geothermal fluid. This configuration allows 100% geothermal fluid reinjection with zero water consumption and low emissions.
Mighty River Power chair Joan Withers said that the newly inaugurated plant will benefit both the company and the country. The plant will help improve the company’s earnings growth and provide long-term benefits for the country in the form of renewable electricity.
"We invested in building relationships with our partners on this resource over more than a decade and $75 million in exploration before we knew we had a project.
"Our commitment of nearly half a billion dollars of capital to this project was only confirmed after satisfying ourselves on each of these fronts – and the long-term sustainability of the resource and returns to our investors," added Withers.
