Pātea Dam

The Pātea Dam is a high compacted earth fill–type hydroelectric dam in Taranaki, New Zealand, constructed between 1980 and 1984.

The dam is 82 m high, and is the fourth highest in New Zealand. It was the first dam constructed using tertiary sandstone and siltstone as fill materials. The dam impounds Lake Rotorangi, which is the longest man-made lake in New Zealand (46 km).

Pātea Hydro Electric Scheme
The Pātea Hydro Electric Scheme was commissioned in May 1984 and was built for the South Taranaki District Council. After construction difficulties, wetter than normal weather had caused a six-month delay. Since 1999 it is owned and operated by TrustPower (now Manawa Energy). With three 11,000 kW vertical Francis turbine generator sets and a 700 kW auxiliary generator, the scheme has a total capacity of 33,700 kW (33 MW) and an average annual output of 118 GWh.