Contact has released a statement stating that its Tauhara project is likely to be online by winter this year, with an initial capacity of at least 152MW.

This comes as the company notes steady progress of the commissioning works at the Tauhara geothermal plant, post successful completion of remedial work to the steam separation plant.

Power station commissioning activities are all in place to start before it is synched to the system by early May. This will be followed by 30-day reliability run required to support commercial operations.

A decarbonisation strategy 

The company has acknowledged the project team's tireless contribution to deliver the Tauhara commissioning timeline and do justice to the project's worldclass standards. It considers the Tauhara geothermal project a part of Contact26, the company’s strategy to lead the decarbonisation of New Zealand.