Manapouri Hydroelectric Power Station

Manapōuri Power Station is an underground hydroelectric power station on the western arm of Lake Manapouri in Fiordland National Park, in the South Island of New Zealand. At 854 MW installed capacity (although limited to 800 MW due to resource consent limits), it is the largest hydroelectric power station in New Zealand, and the second largest power station in New Zealand, after Huntly Power Station. The station is noted for the controversy and environmental protests by the Save Manapouri Campaign against raising the level of Lake Manapouri to increase the station's hydraulic head, which galvanised New Zealanders and was one of the foundations of the New Zealand environmental movement. Completed in 1971, Manapōuri was built primarily to supply electricity for the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter near Bluff, some 160 km (99 mi) to the southeast. The station utilises the 230-metre (750 ft) drop between the western arm of Lake Manapouri and the Deep Cove branch of the Doubtful Sound 10 km (6.2 mi) away to generate electricity. The construction of the station required the excavation of almost 1.4 million tonnes of hard rock to build the machine hall and a 10 km tailrace tunnel, with a second parallel tailrace tunnel completed in 2002 to increase the station's capacity. Since April 1999, the power station has been owned and operated by state-owned electricity generator Meridian Energy.

Power station data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).