Media Release

A high powered delegation took time out to visit the Ngawha geothermal plant when Transpower’s Board of Directors held their monthly meeting in Kaikohe last week (week ending Friday April 18).

Transpower Chairman and Far North Mayor Wayne Brown was joined by his Board, Transpower executives and the Chief Executives of Top Energy, Roger de Bray, the New Zealand Refining Company Ken Rivers, Northland Regional Council Ken Paterson and Chairman Mark Farnsworth, and Far North District Council Chief Executive Clive Manley.

Mr de Bray showed his interested guests around the expansion which is expected to be fully operational by August this year, generating 75 per cent of Far North electricity needs and reducing the district’s vulnerability in the event of national grid failures to the south.

The plant is designed and being built by Ormat Systems of Israel and represents a multi-million dollar investment by Kaikohe-based Top Energy.

Wayne Brown says it’s positive for influential people from outside Northland to see that entrepreneurial business activity is alive and well in the Far North and that there are investment opportunities in and around Kaikohe and other parts of the district.

“We’ve got to let them know we’re here and what we’ve got to offer,” he said. “That’s what last week’s visit was about and I intend to do a lot more of this kind of promotion.

“We need to get ourselves on the map and promote our advantages like relatively cheap land, plenty of room for growth, low stress lifestyle in terms of such things as commuting and parking, and a council that is actively advancing opportunities for investment in the Far North."

For further information please contact:-

Go to top

Page created/updated: 18 April, 2008

• Media Release index

• Public Notices