Cleardale Hydro

Cleardale Hydro is a boutique hydro generation project situated 20 km north-west of Methven, Central Canterbury.   It fits squarely with MainPower’s vision for energy self-sufficiency for North Canterbury through a series of small to medium projects using renewable energy resources.

The Cleardale scheme results from the need of a local landowner to extract a small amount of irrigation water from Little River - a tributary of the Rakaia River.  MainPower will generate electricity from the hydro scheme’s intake.  A small proportion of the water extracted will be used for irrigation with the remainder returned to the river.

Construction began on the Cleardale Hydro scheme in early 2010 and is expected to be finished by the end of the year with the scheme producing up to 900kW of electricity - enough to power around 400 average sized homes. This will help us to meet our region’s energy demand, which is growing at twice the national rate.

Details of the scheme can be obtained from MainPower by contacting us on generation@mainpower.co.nz