Electricity

Innovation and quality are very much part of our generation activities and we are committed to energy efficiency and sustainable energy options.

We take environmental sustainability very seriously. Our electricity generation utilises a diverse range of renewable hydro and geothermal energy and we are the largest generator of electricity in New Zealand from efficient gas-fired co-generation facilities. We are also using technology that harnesses landfill gas to create electricity, which ultimately helps reduce New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Further renewable energy projects in progress or being evaluated include a hydro project on the upper Kaituna River, a number of potential wind-farms and investment  into new tidal-generation technologies.

Turning Landfill Gas Into Electricity

In 2008, a new energy project officially launched and now greenhouse gas from Wellington’s Southern Landfill is being used to generate electricity.

The 1 MW generator plant generates around 8 GWh of electricity per year – enough to power 1000 households – for the next 20 years. The generator is driven by a large internal combustion engine designed specifically to run on gas produced in the landfill.