A Geothermal Week industry field trip to the Geo40 plant at Ohaaki, which extracts lithium from geothermal fluid. Photo / Supplied
A Geothermal Week industry field trip to the Geo40 plant at Ohaaki, which extracts lithium from geothermal fluid. Photo / Supplied
Taupō is the heart of New Zealand's geothermal industry and the fifth-biggest area of geothermal generation worldwide, so it was only right that the nation's inaugural Geothermal Week be hosted in the district.
Organised by Taupō district economic development agency Amplify and timed to coincide with the annual New Zealand Geothermal Association seminar, Geothermal Week, which ran at the end of July, was judged a huge success.
Amplify geothermal cluster lead Fiona Miller says with 16 events over six days, there was something interesting for everyone. Over 2400 Taupō locals attended public seminars, a career expo, open days and geothermal school STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) outreach programmes.
In addition, more than 300 geothermal and other industry professionals travelled from all over New Zealand to attend industry workshops, seminars and field trips.
The week was sponsored by Contact Energy, GNS Science and MB Century, as well as event partners the NZ Geothermal Association and Women in Geothermal.
Fiona says the idea of Geothermal Week was to help those in the geothermal industry share their knowledge and passion through a variety of public events. The community embraced it, with people keen to learn more and see how they could get involved.
Interest in jobs in geothermal is particularly high at present, with the construction of the new Tauhara Power Station well under way and up to 500 people needed to work on the project over the next two years. A Geothermal Industry Career Expo at Taupō-nui-a-Tia College attracted 20 exhibitors and 750 students and adults.
The Geothermal Industry Careers Expo at Taupō-nui-a-Tia College attracted 20 exhibitors and 750 visitors. Photo / Supplied
Fiona says one of the standouts at the careers expo was that visitors were surprised to discover how diverse opportunities in the geothermal industry are.
"While there are plenty of engineering roles, there are also entry-level and skill development jobs on offer, as well as a huge range of trade and construction roles. People were also interested to learn that there are several training programs available, like Contact Energy's Gateway Program with local high schools and Ka Hiko ai te iwi, to help upskill locals into these jobs.
"Young people of our district might go away and train and get experience but there are world-class careers that pay really well and will stretch their brains right here in Taupō, so it's making our local young people realise there are really good opportunities here," Fiona said.
Tauhara Power Station project director Alan de Lima of Contact Energy (centre) showing industry visitors around the power station construction site. Photo / Laurilee McMichael
"There are entry-level jobs but also a lot of trade roles as well and skill development, a lot of construction and trades roles as well and really highly specialised roles like engineers, scientists, resource planners; and local iwi are pretty active owners and developers of assets as well."
Over 60 people from around New Zealand attended an Amplify workshop to learn about how geothermal heat can be used to power other industries. While use in wood processing is relatively well known - with local companies Tenon and Nature's Flame already using geothermal heat - there are also opportunities for other industries, with geothermal heat able to deliver a range of heat from 40C up to 2000C.
"This sustainable low-carbon heat fits well with the Government's vision for a renewable clean-energy future for New Zealand, and is more reliable and cost-effective than other renewable energy options," Fiona says. "Contact Energy is setting aside land for industrial process heat users at their new Tauhara power station site and is also investigating the potential for an industrial heat park."
The week was rounded off with a free behind-the-scenes geothermal power station tour, with more than 300 Taupō locals taking a rare opportunity to visit Contact Energy's Wairakei Steam field and Te Mihi Power Station. Tour bookings reached capacity.
Youngsters enjoying the free public tour of the Te Mihi Power Station near Taupō. Photo / Supplied
Fiona says it is not often the general public get to see inside a working power station, and people were buzzing about their experience afterwards. Te Mihi, which opened in 2014, can power over 160,000 households, equivalent to all the houses in Wellington and Hamilton combined.
"Some noted they had lived in Taupō for over 30 years, and this was the first time they'd had a chance to visit a power station. People were impressed with the scale of the operation."
Fiona says the board of Amplify wanted to focus its efforts on the Taupō district's areas of natural strength, and one of those was geothermal. That included attracting and growing geothermal-based industry in the region and helping locals engage and understand it. She said Amplify would look at making Geothermal Week an annual or biennial event.
