Manapōuri Power Station 50th Documentary
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- In 2021 we met with some of the amazing people that helped build the Manapōuri Power Station over 50 years ago, and with the incredible Fiordland community we’re proud to be part of. Watch as they document this moment in time and we recognise the impact of New Zealand’s biggest renewable energy power station.
This was very interesting to watch. Sometimes you forget what has happened behind the scenes and in the past just so I can now turn on a light.
This brings back great memories. After the completion, the accommodation was given to the then Education Board for schools to camp at. I was with the second school to camp there, such an awesome time. Going on the launch from Te Anau across the lake, being met by lots of kea and bussing over the Wilmont pass. Rowing out in dingys and setting lines for tuna. We actually caught one and had it for breakfast. Tramping up the hanging valley with moss a foot or so deep. The waterfalls (Helena) would magically spring up all over the place when it rained. A once in a life time camp and my children and grand children have also been lucky enough enjoy this part of the world. Great memories.
It isnt on Te Anau, its on Manapouri.
As someone who has spent a lot of time at Lake Manapouri especially in my younger years camping and boating, this video has brought back a lot of very good memories. Was very lucky to have been guided through the power station control room and down the service lift into the generator hall back in the late 80's. A very interesting and well made documentary about it's construction. Great work - thank you 👍
Thanks for sharing! Awesome to have this feedback Mike
Love the old school ,put me in those times any day
Well Done . We did a trip to Doubtful Sound from Manapouri by boat and coach over Wilmott Pass in 2023. Would have loved to do a tour of the power station this doco gives a great insight into the whole Manapouri Hydro scheme.
Great to see the early days at Deep Cove as my father worked there as a surveyor, his first job was to survey the mooring points for the Wanganellas arrival, and it was good to see what it was like there. He was always complaining about the rain and mud and how they used to have to use D8 dozers to get around until Utah bought some bren gun carriers. I kept a close eye out but I didn't see him pictured anywhere. Thanks for the upload.
Keith you showed "me and my mate", engineering students, around Benmore some years later and we were on the 7th floor of Rutherford House together briefly in the days when the planned electricity supply curve was well above the planned demand curve. Can we save Manapouri power for ordinary NZers to keep the lights on? Thanks for the awesome video, makes me proud to be a little part of it all.
Manapouri is connected to the national grid but the lines cannot carry all the power, so if tiwai closed down power would go to waste because of line restrictions, although planned upgrades will/are happening for the inevitable closure of tiwai point
I can remember being on a guided tour as a group of sparkies way back in the 70s. We got into places normally “restricted”. This was because we were in the industry, and our tour guide was generous.
The stark memory I have was when they were testing some newly installed air break switches in the transformer yard whilst we were there.
I thought world war 3 had started as the booms from the air switch blasts echoed around the mountains.
Goodness knows how that affected the native birds, but wow, about 7 echoes per test. It was wonderful.
Somthing eeerie about standing in the switch yard, best part about being a tradesmen is you get to see the whole station, not just the entrance to the tunnel like you do now (guided tours stopped 10yrs ago I think)
@@Footrotflats251 another thing that stuck in my mind was a surface mounted, grossly overloaded, transformer with sprinklers spraying on it to keep it cool. Kiwi number 8 wire work around for sure.
@@briandalrymple9986 how long ago was that? There’s only 1 transformer in the switch yard, I’m not sure it’s exact purpose, it’s a pretty new looking Fuso but all the 13.8Kv>220kv transformers are underground
I was a subby there fairly recently
@@briandalrymple9986 they definitely wouldent have that nowadays, meridian is pretty big on health and safety
@@Footrotflats251 this was in the 1970’s. It was a small transformer near the spiral tunnel entrance if I remember correctly. It was behind a very rudimentary fence, and there was an array of nozzles spraying water on the cooling fins. I was quite intrigued. Our guide said it was running at 3 or 400% overload supplying power to the generator hall below. This was in the construction stage then, and there were some turbines installed. I remember thinking I wouldn’t want one of the coupling nuts to fall on my toe, they were huge. I didn’t pay particular attention to the transformer size, but it was possibly a 50kvA. Maybe someone who was on my tour party could verify that size.
Great doco, very interesting thanks.
My father worked on this and i vaguely remember living in the camp
I’m 50 years one thing has stayed the same, the drying room 😂 albeit slightly more modern than a hook, rope and pulley
so very interesting ,i thank you for a fantastic doco
We are still waiting for a Tourist Trip dedicated to New Zealand's Greatest Engineering Project as well as a Museum of Artifacts stored at Manapouri... but not indefinitely.
My father placed the steel in this Dam.
cool place. been there on the way to doubtful sound
Why this isn't rejoiced by the green movement in NZ, as a magnificent example of sustainable power and industry scheme, beggars belief. Tiwai produces the highest quality Aluminium, and it's done using sustainable hydropower. If that is not a green crown to celebrate in NZ, then they lack any credibility.
Move to Trumpville, keep NZ GREEN.
@@eugenio1542 the Greens have now clearly been shown for what they are, BS artists.
You must be quite young and have never read about the protest to try and *STOP* the flooding this project was going to cause when they raised the lake's level. There was an ugly photo of dead trees poking out through the lake quite a few yards (yeah, pre metric then) title The Petrified Forest IIRC. Google *Save Manapouri campaign* and choose one of the many articles to read. it was *not* a green venture at the time and was constructed to *only* supply power to Tiwai Point aluminium polluting company. NZ citizens screwed over by corrupt pollies and overseas companies again.
Sadly, there is no way we could build this now.
Lake levels have remained the same because the massive protests *stopped* the lake level being raised by 100 feet (pre metric) and drowning everything around the place. As it was damage was done by stopping the normal lake levels ebb and flow. Nice puff piece Meridian Energy.
Why did lifting the lake level mean losing Manapouri?
By raising the lake level, the surrounding wildlife and vegetation would have been lost.
@@angelogiannoutsos2392 Why was that such a big issue?
@@jasonhockly8655 The lake resides inside Fiordland National Park which is a significant refuge for many threatened native animals and endangered species of birds endemic to New Zealand.
@@angelogiannoutsos2392 thank you
Nnxnxkk🎺🎳🧩🧩🧩
Amazing doco! But were fully renewable? Huntly.....Why lie? You're doing a lot of good you don't need to lie. You just discredit any trust with the public with this type of transparent bullshit
Huntly's shut down as a power station and is only a coal storage place. We're not fully renewable.
I think they're just referring to Meridian, not New Zealand as a whole. Huntly is owned by Genesis.
Mana where ? Thanks jacinda.
My father Earle Nunn was on construction from start to finish mid 1960 -1971 he lived in the new hydro site with mum and my sister two years before I was born, Dad was a operator at the station as well, I remember going to work with Dad and sleeping in the rag bins down by the generators, we moved to the Hydro Village after the Construction from 1971 to 1979 in October that year we moved to Christchurch, I was 6 years and dad continued to work for NZED, Alstrom, Transfield Services before his retirement 2015 after 50 years of service to NZ Electricity.
Fantastic ! what a great project, that NZ can truly be proud of.
Fascinating!
And they managed to make this complete documentary without using "Damn the dam" on the soundtrack.
Those of us who were aware of environmental issues back in the day remember the societal shift that this project caused.
What we take for granted today.......
Very good doco. Thanks. Loved hearing the old tunnellers recounting their experiences.
Our parents took us to visit the system in the early 70’s. Really look forward to a return visit soon👍