Gas power plant in Taranaki, New Zealand. Approximate location -39.609873, 174.29859.
GasTaranakiNew ZealandCCGT · HRSG
Whareroa power station is a 70 MW gas power plant in Taranaki, New Zealand. It is operated by Fonterra/Todd JV [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 79k homes (estimated). It ranks #33 of 50 New Zealand power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1996, it is around 30 years old — long-established. In context, gas supplies about 8.9% of New Zealand's electricity; the national grid averages 93 gCO₂/kWh (88.5% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GOGPT_whareroa_newzea.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.
capacity: GEM · 2026 · L100000406871; fuel: GEM GOGPT
At 70 MW, Whareroa power station is below the median gas plant in New Zealand (112 MW). Technically it is described as CCGT; combined-cycle with a heat-recovery steam generator (HRSG). Gas plants burn natural gas either in open-cycle turbines for fast peaking, or in combined-cycle units that recover exhaust heat in an HRSG to reach roughly 55–62% efficiency — the cleanest-burning fossil option.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Fonterra/Todd JV [100%].
This gas plant burns natural gas in a turbine — often in a combined-cycle setup — to generate electricity. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 39.6°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Climate zone & typical temperatures: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C4 — High), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #8 largest gas power plant of 10 in New Zealand by capacity.
New Zealand has 10 gas power plants in this dataset, together about 2,290 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -39.609873, 174.29859 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Whareroa power station is a 70 MW gas power plant in Taranaki, New Zealand, commissioned in 1996.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 78,840 homes (estimated).
Whareroa power station is operated by Fonterra/Todd JV [100%].
