Mercury’s Karapiro upgrade can charge 6000 EVs

Mercury’s Karapiro power station will get a major upgrade in a nearly half-a-billion overhaul of the energy company’s Waikato River hydro system.

Turbines and generators at the 70-year-old power station will be replaced by Austrian-based firm Andritz Hydro in a $75 million arrangement expected to be signed off between the two companies this week, the NZ Herald reports.

New equipment will allow the station to lift peak capacity by 17%, the increase enabling Mercury to charge more than 6000 EVs simultaneously.

“When you’re spending $75m to keep it going and for that money get to find another 17% more capacity, it’s a triumph,” Mercury hydro and wholesale executive general manager Phil Gibson says.

The Karapiro station upgrade will be the fifth on the nine-station Waikato system which generates about 10% of the country’s electricity and is expected to take about three years.

The complete system overhaul could take nearly 20 years to finish, Gibson says.

“Our modernisation programme brings the best of new design and manufacturing practices to these stations, in many cases replacing machinery that has operating for more than half a century.”

Generation disruption during the upgrade is expected to be minimal.

Lake Karapiro is also the home of Rowing New Zealand.