Location
Rakaia River Catchment
Canterbury
Commissioned
1939 – 1945 Highbank Station
1982 Montalto Station
Max Capacity
27 MW
Annual Output
105 GWh
Highbank consists of the Highbank and Montalto power stations.
Highbank Power Station is currently out of commission while the 27MW 1945 generation unit is replaced with a new 19MW General Electric unit, adding 8.25GWh and increased resiliency. The replacement project includes 5800 components from 112 suppliers!
A pumping station sits next to the power station at Highbank. The pumping station consists of 6 pumps that have been modified to run as turbines or pumps. When running as turbines, each pump can produce 1MW of power. The pumps as turbines are helping keep the lights on while Highbank Power Station is out of commission, providing enough electricity to power the equivalent of 6000 Kiwi homes each year. The pumps as turbines will be useful during future planned outages at Highbank once the power station is back online.
In summer, priority is given to using the stored water in the scheme for irrigation rather than power generation.
A barrier at the end of the tailrace and a purpose-built channel allow migrating salmon to access a main braid of the Rakaia River.
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