Lake Rotorangi

BW

Reservoir

Rotorangi Lake is the largest lake in the Taranaki region in the southwest of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located in the South Taranaki District. The reservoir was created in 1984 by the construction of a dam on the Patea River. The 82 m high earth dam with a core of sandstone and mudstone was built near the end of Ball Road for a hydroelectric power plant. The resulting lake flooded the valley of the Patea River at about 46 km away and formed the longest artificial lake in New Zealand.

The dam, the Patea Dam, is owned by the company TrustPower and has a capacity of 31 megawatts (equivalent to 115 GWh per year). Patea is used to cover the peak load. The lake has a capacity for about a week-long operation of the power plant. On used for water lake there is a campsite.

The dam is a barrier to upstream migrating eels of the train, which collect at the foot of the dam, as they can not swim up the fish ladder at the dam tubular. Since 2007, a local initiative that captures these animals and exposes again the lake The Einfangaktion is now financed by the company, sometimes even the floodgates are opened to facilitate migration of adult fish downstream.