Meremere Power Station is a former coal-fired 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 ...

Meremere Meremere is a small town in the northern Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the east bank of the Waikato River, 50 kilometres north of Hamilton and 63 km south of Auckland. Meremere was the site of fighti ...

, approximately south of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

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 ...

. Meremere was the first major coal-fired power station in New Zealand, and was commissioned to help meet the increasing electricity demands of New Zealand, and especially Auckland, after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The first six 30MW units were commissioned in 1958. The commissioning of Meremere, and Atiamuri Dam further upstream on the Waikato River, meant post-war electricity restrictions were finally lifted in December that year. An additional seventh unit commissioned in April 1967. Two-thirds of Meremere's annual 800,000-tonne coal requirements was met by the nearby

Maramarua Maramarua is a locality in the north-eastern part of the Waikato District of New Zealand. State Highway 2 runs through the settlement. Demographics Maramarua settlement is in an SA1 statistical area which covers . The SA1 area is part of the ...

coalfield, with coal delivered to the power station by a twin aerial ropeway. The remaining one-third of coal came from other mines, and was railed to Meremere via a private siding off the

North Island Main Trunk The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and se ...

. Meremere last produced power in December 1990 and was decommissioned in March 1991 after 33 years in service.

References

{{Electricity generation in Waikato 1958 establishments in New Zealand 1991 disestablishments in New Zealand Coal-fired power stations in New Zealand Buildings and structures in Waikato

See also

References