Amethyst Hydro Scheme in the running for Award

Amethyst Hydro Scheme in the running for New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards

The team behind the Amethyst Hydro Scheme has been selected as a finalist in this year’s New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards.

“We’re thrilled to be selected as a finalist in this year’s awards. This was a challenging project - not only in terms of the engineering involved but also the conservation and environmental concerns,” explains Rodger Griffiths, General Manager for Westpower.

“The scheme has been built primarily on conservation land, so we constructed it without a dam - building a low level weir instead to collect the water from a streambed high up in the Amethyst River. The terrain is so extreme they could only get in and out by helicopter, but they did it and now the West Coast has it’s own environmentally sustainable power supply,” Rodger adds.

The scheme draws water through the weir and from there it is fed 2.5km journey to the powerhouse, 5km to the East of Harihari. ElectroNet managed the development of the scheme, which was commissioned in June 2013. It is a joint venture between Westpower and Harihari Hydro Limited.

The 7.7MW power station produces 45GWh of energy per annum, increasing the national supply and reducing the previous losses experienced in transmitting power to the West Coast.

“The New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards have been running since 2005 and were created to acknowledge outstanding leadership and innovation in New Zealand engineering,” explains Kieran Devine, Interim Chief Executive of IPENZ, one of the eight partner organisations hosting the awards.

“This year we have 19 finalists in the Projects, People, and Practice categories of awards and six other finalists for community engagement and safety in engineering. Being selected as a finalist is a great achievement in itself - it’s going to be tough on the judges!” Kieran adds.

The awards take place on Friday 28 November 2014, with winners being announced that evening at the Pullman Hotel in Auckland. Wellington Cable Car Limited and Greater Wellington Regional Council will be competing against 17 other finalists from around New Zealand for the Engineering Excellence Awards.

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