Horahora Power Station was an early

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

power station on the

Waikato River The Waikato River is the longest river in New Zealand, running for through the North Island. It rises on the eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu, joining the Tongariro River system and flowing through Lake Taupō, New Zealand's largest lake. It th ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It was the country’s first large-scale power station, completed in 1913. Initially built to service a gold mine, the power station was expanded to supply a significant part of the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. The power station remained in use until was submerged by

Lake Karapiro Lake Karapiro () is an artificial reservoir lake on the Waikato River at Karapiro, south-east of Cambridge in New Zealand's North Island. The lake was formed in 1947 by the damming of the Waikato River to store water for the 96-megawatt Karapir ...

, which was formed to supply the larger Karapiro Power Station.

History

Horahora power station was built by the Waihi gold mining company to provide power for mining operations at

Waihi Waihi is a town in Hauraki District in the North Island of New Zealand, especially notable for its history as a gold mine town. The town is at the foot of the Coromandel Peninsula, close to the western end of the Bay of Plenty. The nearby res ...

, about 80 km away. Construction began in 1910 and took three years, continuing through the

Waihi miners' strike The Waihi miners' strike was a major strike action in 1912 by gold miners in the New Zealand town of Waihi. It is widely regarded as the most significant industrial action in the history of New Zealand's labour movement. It resulted in one strik ...

despite attempts to involve the Horahora construction workers in the strike action. When the power station opened in October 1913 it was the largest generating plant in the country with a capacity of . The power was put to use throughout the mine and

stamping mill Stamp or Stamps or Stamping may refer to: Official documents and related impressions * Postage stamp, used to indicate prepayment of fees for public mail * Ration stamp, indicating the right to rationed goods * Revenue stamp, used on documents to ...

s, however under the mining company’s ownership the power station was never utilised to its full capacity. The power station was bought by the NZ government in 1919 and it began to supply

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

and surrounding farming districts. In 1926 the power station was upgraded, increasing capacity to . This allowed supply to be extended to include the

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...

and

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. Around 7:55pm of 1 September 1928, a fire broke out in the power station's workshop and oil store, and quickly spread to the transformer house. As a result, the supply from the station was cut, blacking out the entire upper North Island. Supply to most areas was restored by 11:45pm using various backup power plants, but it took until the following morning to re-establish supply to Rotorua and the eastern Bay of Plenty. Partial generation from Horahora was restored on the evening of 3 September, and full generation on 30 September.

Submerging

In April 1947 Lake Karapiro was finally formed behind the Karapiro Power Station dam, submerging Horahora. It was kept generating until the last possible day, 4 April, due to power shortages, with the turbines and generator units being left in place. To the amusement of onlookers, two generators continued to rotate and thrash the rising waters, even after the water had almost covered them. The first turbine-generator at Karapiro was commissioned on 10 April 1947, just six days after Horahora was flooded; however problems with the guide bearing meant full generation didn't start until 21 April.

References

External links

1926 photo of power house and nearby housing
{{coord, 37, 57.133, S, 175, 39.446, E, scale:10000, display=title Energy infrastructure completed in 1913 Hydroelectric power stations in New Zealand Waikato River Buildings and structures in Waikato 1913 establishments in New Zealand 1910s architecture in New Zealand

History

Submerging

See also

References

External links