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Far North ratepayers will invest $5 million in an industrial park near Kaikohe in what is being described as a ''once in a lifetime opportunity'' to boost employment in the Mid North.
Councillors voted unanimously yesterday to borrow $5m which council-owned company Far North Holdings (FNH) will use to buy a dairy farm at Ngawha and turn it into a ''market ready'' industrial park.
The idea is to lure industry with completed infrastructure and resource consents, but the real drawcard will be cheap power from the nearby Ngawha geothermal power station.
FNH chief executive Andy Nock told councillors that Top Energy could supply power to the park, on a dairy farm on the northern side of State Highway 12, at a discount of 30-40 per cent and with no line charges. There was also potential to supply heat and CO2, for example for hydroponic horticulture.
From the Global Geothermal News archives:
- Monday, December 11, 2017 - New Zealand: 28 MW Expansion of Ngawha Geothermal Power Station to be Completed by 2021
- Thursday, February 4, 2016 - New Zealand: Project to Run Pulp and Timber Mill Using Surplus Geothermal Plant Steam and Heat
- Thursday, September 17, 2015 - New Zealand: Ngawha Geothermal Plant a Big Win for Northern Region
- Thursday, May 16, 2013 - New Zealand:Ngawha's Geothermal Power Plant Expansion Promises Economic Boost
