Water power turbines and generators for Water Treatment Plants

Where there’s water, there’s water power.

KATIE CHAPMAN

A new Water power turbines and generators for Water Treatment Plant will slash about $170,000 per year from the Greater Wellington Regional Council’s waste water treatment plants power bill.

The Wainuiomata Water Treatment Plant is now self-powering thanks to a new mini-hydro electricity plant that was officially opened at a short ceremony yesterday.

The $2 million plant now diverts water through a turbine and generator, creating enough electricity to power the waste water treatment plant as well as sending surplus power to the local grid.

The 300 kilowatt generator is expected to provide 1.8m kilowatt hours a year and cut the regional water treatment plants supply of power use by 10 per cent.

Greater Wellington regional council chairwoman Fran Wilde said harnessing power from the waste water for power was a simple way to help reduce the council’s carbon footprint.

“It just makes sense, doesn’t it? Why not use the waste water for power?”

It also meant less money had to be spent on electricity, she said.

“It helps ratepayer by way of the bottom line.”

The plant is expected to save the council about $170,000 a year.

The water treatment plants accounted for about 75 per cent of the regional council’s greenhouse gas emissions and the council was on track to have reduced that by about 15 per cent next year, Ms Wilde said.

Council development and strategy manager Tony Shaw said the plant had been fully operational since the end of July, and had been running completely under its own waste water treatment hydro power since then.

Similar models were not possible at other water treatment plants, because the Orongorongo catchment that fed the Wainuiomata plant had a 100 metre drop that gave the water enough flow to power theturbines and generators for Water Treatment Plants.

The Reservoir Rd plant by the Wainuiomata River provides water for Wainuiomata and Wellington city.

Reverend Boyd Reha led a karakia and blessing of the plant this week, using water that had been through thewaste water treatment hydro plant for the ceremony.

Water power turbines and generators for Water Treatment Plants

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