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Far North electricity lines company Top Energy has won Commerce Commission approval to retain local ownership of a $68 million expanded geothermal power station.
The Kaikohe-based company, which has 27,000 consumers connected to its lines network, applied to the commission for an exemption from ownership restrictions under the Electricity Industry Reform Act.
The act prohibits lines companies from owning power generating plants and selling electricity.
Top Energy is expanding its maximum electricity output at Ngawha, east of Kaikohe, from an existing 12 megawatts to 25 through the addition of a new geothermal generating plant under construction.
The company already had an exemption from 1998 allowing it to retain ownership of its original Ngawha 12 megawatt plant.
The latest exemption, granted for the expanded plant, allows for another future expansion to a maximum output of 42 megawatts which would supply nearly all electricity needs to the Far North's 55,000 population.
Top Energy chief executive Roger de Bray said the expansion to 25 megawatts should be operational by August next year. It would generate about 70 per cent of the Far North's electricity.
He said the project was the biggest investment made in the Far North in 15 years, with the most important benefit being better security of supply. The district's exposure to possible failures in the national grid would be substantially reduced.
