Oil power plant in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. Approximate location -39.3829, 176.8875.
OilHawke's BayNew Zealand
Whirinaki is a 155 MW oil power station in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. It is operated by Contact Energy. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 116,382 homes (estimated). It ranks #11 of 43 New Zealand power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2011, it is around 15 years old — relatively modern. In context, oil supplies about 1.5% 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 WRI1000337.
This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:
Estimated, not measured: from installed capacity at a typical 30% load factor × a typical oil emission factor (~750 g CO₂/kWh, IPCC AR5 / US EIA). Actual emissions depend on plant efficiency and running hours.Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies.
Operated by Contact Energy. All plants by this company →
This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 39.4°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 36% below the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.
Climate heat-demand index: 35/100 — this site sits in the mid third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
In colder climates, uninsulated hot equipment (boilers, turbines, valves, steam lines) loses proportionally more heat to ambient air — exactly the loss Inzonex modular insulation is designed to cut.
Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.
New Zealand has 1 oil power plant in this dataset, together about 155 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -39.3829, 176.8875 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
