New Plymouth Powerstation, Taranaki, Oct 2012: The New Plymouth Powerstation was constructed in the early 1970’s to meet the rising demand for electricity in New Zealand.
Upon completion in 1972, the Powerstation chimney was the tallest man made structure in NZ- standing at 198 metres. It contains over 16,000 tonnes of concrete, 1200 tonnes of reinforcing steel and almost one million bricks.
The chimney has been off-limits for some time, since the discovery of asbestos inside it.
At the main entrance-way, the spiral staircase winds up and around an unusual warrior-engineer carving, gifted in the 1980’s.
The Powerstation operated for over 30 years untill it was decomissioned in 2007. It is now up for sale.. The steel alone that make up the plant, is estimated to be valued at over 10 million dollars.
The main control-room inhabits a vast room with the five individual retro styled control stations. You could be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled onto a vintage James Bond set, circa Goldfinger…
ferguscunningham.com 
Hey Fergus, is the power station still operational? Funny that the lights are still on. If you ever need back-up on a trip like this, I’d be keen to come along!
Yeah, technically speaking- it’s still operational. In fact they boosted the NPPS up a few winters ago for a while while hydro etc output was down & demand was high… but it’s now offically decommisioned & up for sale… Short of another ice-age, no- the lights are on but the power is off…